GIFT OF 
 
GIFT 
 MAY 8 1914 
 
 VOCATIONAL 
 SURVEY q 
 MINNEAPOLIS 
 
 1 01 3 
 
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 UNIVERSITY 
 
 r or 
 
A VOCATIONAL 
 SURVEY 
 
 OF 
 
 MINNEAPOLIS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Tke Minneapolis Teachers' Glut 
 
 1913 
 
Introduction. 
 
 A year ago a group of men and women interested in the wel- 
 fare of boys and girls, and somewhat acquainted with conditions 
 that confront them upon their entrance into industrial life, decided 
 that it was time to make a survey of the city. There had been much 
 talk of training for the trades in the public schools ; and apparently 
 there was reasonable ground for this advocacy. We knew that 
 in 1900 the people who worked in Minneapolis were distributed as 
 follows : 
 
 In all gainful occupations 66,170 % 
 
 Agriculture 1,542 2.3 
 
 Professions 3,687 5.6 
 
 Domestic and Personal Service 12,818 19.4 
 
 Trade and Transportation 24,043 36.4 
 
 Manufacturing and Mechanical Pursuits 24,080 36.4 
 
 Moreover, the Civic and Commerce Association reported at 
 the time of the "Made in Minneapolis" display that 40,000 persons 
 were now engaged in manufacture in this city. This was not at 
 wide variance with the general statistics of the 1910 census, which 
 shows that our national population has increased 21%, but in- 
 dicates a phenomenal figure for the growth of manufacture : an in- 
 crease of 40.3% in those engaged in making things. It would be 
 near the truth to say that about 40% of those in gainful occupa- 
 tions in Minneapolis are in manufacture and mechanical pursuits, 
 and nearly the same number in trade and transportation. It was 
 further evident from statistics that the skilled craftsmen of this 
 city were divided among natives and foreign born in the ratio of 
 one to six, and it was also clear that the intelligent classes from 
 Northern Europe, the Germans, Scandinavians, and English, 
 were not crossing the ocean to find here their future homes. South- 
 eastern Europe was being emptied of its ignorant population, ac- 
 customed to a standard of life little better than that ot the cattle with 
 which they housed. These people had lived in a far-away indus- 
 trial epoch, where implements were yet primitive and modern 
 trades and machines unknown. It was absurd to look to these 
 people to find trained workers to take the places of the five per 
 cent who for one reason or another leave the ranks of skilled 
 artisans every year or to find the other three per cent needed to 
 do the added work of a rapidly growing community. What more 
 natural than to turn to the public schools and ask of them a supply 
 of skill? So here, as in most cities, there was much talk of trade 
 training in our schools, and a rather aggressive insistence that 
 this new work be undertaken. Was there a real demand? or was 
 this a new educational fad sweeping across the country, to be lost 
 in the great abyss of educational nostrums, along with vertical 
 writing and basketry? That was to be determined. 
 
 285680 
 
Educators are usually learned men; but this world generally 
 does not ascribe to them an abundance of sound sense. These 
 learned men have charge of the greatest plant in the world, our 
 schools. A half million employees are at work at an annual ex- 
 pense to the nation of $450,000,000. The product of this institution 
 should be manhood and womanhood, efficient to take its place in the 
 world of workers, and firmly established in habits of right think- 
 ing and noble action. Yet who is accounted efficient for the work 
 of to-day? Certainly not the armorer, no matter how skilled, for 
 what need have we of him? Possibly not the boot maker; for the 
 best and latest in boots come from big factories. And so rapidly 
 do industries change that confusion awaits the man still using 
 methods of ten years ago. No system of education can be efficient 
 until the conditions of life to which pupils go are thoroughly 
 known. No manufacturer would think of setting his machines to 
 make "what-nots" or muzzle-loading guns; they were all right 
 in their day but that day is now yesterday. The first thing for 
 the man of business is to know what the market demands. And 
 the managers of the schools must explore their market to know 
 what is demanded of the education factory. That is the reason 
 for this survey. 
 
 The Commission was made up of persons well known in the 
 City and representative of differing interests. They were Henry 
 F. Burt, Resident at Pillsbury Settlement House ; George H. Elwell, 
 Manufacturer and President of the Board of Education; Charles 
 Fischer, Trades and Labor Assembly; George M. Gillette, Presi- 
 dent of the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Co. ; Albert Hedler, 
 Principal of the Franklin School; Frank Hoffman, Statistician of 
 the State Department of Labor; Lydia Herrick, Unity House; 
 Lowell E. Jepson, President of the Winkley Artificial Limb Co. ; 
 Don D. Lescohier, State Department of Labor; Eugene T. Lies, 
 Secretary of the Associated Charities; W. B. Northrop, Manager 
 of the North Star Woolen Mills; D. H. Painter, Principal of the 
 Adams School ; Mrs. Anna H. Phelan, Department of Sociology, 
 University of Minnesota; E. V. Robinson, Department of Eco- 
 nomics, University of Minnesota; George E. Vincent, President of 
 the University of Minnesota; Norman Wilde, Department of 
 Psychology, University of Minnesota; W. F. Webster, Principal 
 of East High School ; S. Wirt Wiley, Secretary of the Young Men j s 
 Christian Association. During the year, Mr. Burt, Mr. Lies, and 
 Mr. Hedler resigned their positions on account of removal from 
 the city; in their places were appointed Anna Fox, Secretary of 
 Jewish Charities ; T. W. Gilbert, Assistant to the Superintendent of 
 Schools ; and Stiles P. Jones, Secretary of The Voters' League. 
 
 At the first meeting, Mr. Webster was chosen Chairman, and 
 Miss Herrick, Secretary. Upon looking over the field, it was de- 
 cided that to make a survey that would be of value, some paid 
 worker who would give all her time to the project must be secured. 
 This meant that money would be needed. Here was a piece of 
 work essential for guidance in the next forward movement in our 
 city's plan for education. And it was too big for a few persons to 
 
carry. The logical thing was to seek for some organization to carry 
 it through. It was very natural to turn to the Minneapolis Teachers 1 
 Club; for this group of men and women has fostered and aided 
 many worthy enterprises, and has always shown a largeness in its 
 action which has made its name honored throughout the city. The 
 Committee was not mistaken in their belief; and to the hearty co- 
 operation of the Teachers' Club is due in large measure the success 
 of this survey. 
 
 It would be unjust to omit another agency in this work. The 
 Board of Directors of Unity House, after learning from Miss Her- 
 rick the need and value of this work, donated the services of this 
 trained social worker. To her wisdom and to the helpful attitude 
 of Miss Caroline Crosby, the city of Minneapolis is largely in- 
 debted. This Committee desires to express its gratitude to both 
 of these large-hearted organizations, the Minneapolis Teachers' 
 Club and Unity House, for their generous support of this great 
 enterprise. 
 
 After it was settled that the work could be carried through, the 
 Committee selected Miss Emily Child as their agent in this survey ; 
 and to the enthusiasm and training of Miss Herrick and Miss Child, 
 we are indebted for the completeness and accuracy of the report. 
 It is no easy matter to get such intimate information about a family 
 as was needed; for hardly anything was too personal to be of use. 
 Just the matter of income is not easy to come at ; for all people 
 think that it is nobody's business how much they earn. And when 
 worth in a community is decided on the basis of earning power, as 
 as it is by many persons, it is easy to see why the tendency is al- 
 ways to make as good showing as possible.. Then when a stranger 
 wishes to learn why a father is not at work while a frail mother 
 goes down town every day to toil in some office building; or why, 
 in a prosperous home, the son left school at fourteen, to accept 
 three or four dollars a week in a candy store, very often native 
 pride hesitates to speak, and resentment at such an inquisition 
 seals the lips. Much kindness, patience, and tact are necessary ; 
 and in many cases frequent visits were needed to get on a good 
 footing with the family. And to the honor of these ladies it should 
 be said that they always succeeded ; and they have left behind them 
 many homes that to-day welcome them as true friends. 
 
 The next matter was to determine the scope of the survey. It 
 was the unanimous opinion that whatever was done should be 
 thoroughly done, so that the material should be complete and re- 
 liable. This of necessity narrowed the field. It was concluded to 
 make a survey of children leaving school between the ages of 
 fourteen and sixteen four years ago, and to know the complete 
 history of each one included within the survey. The impossibility 
 of covering the whole city was at once apparent. A selection was 
 necessary. By no one could a selection be so wisely made as by the 
 Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Charles M. Jordan. He named the 
 Sheridan, Adams, Logan, Monroe, and Seward to represent the 
 grade schools; and the Central and North to represent the high 
 schools. These seven schools fairly represent the whole school 
 
population ; and whatever conditions were found in them, would 
 approach very nearly the truth for the whole city. Toward the 
 end of the year it was evident that more cases should be studied, 
 and these additional ones were taken from the group of fourteen 
 year old pupils who had left school with permission of Mr. C. E. 
 Ashworth, Employment Agent of the Board of Education. This 
 fact accounts for the large number of fourteen year old pupils in- 
 cluded in the report. 
 
 Ten months were spent in gathering the information, and a 
 month in studying it and getting it into shape for presentation. 
 The tables have been arranged in the following order: 1st, a set 
 of three tables, showing the sources of the material studied, by 
 school, by age, by grade, and by nationality, and the causes of 
 retardation; 2nd, a table showing upon whom the responsibility 
 should be placed for the child's leaving school ; 3rd, four tables 
 setting forth the reasons for leaving school, and the economic 
 status of the family; 4th, a table indicating the education of the 
 children after leaving the public school ; and 5th, five tables show- 
 ing the industrial history of each child, his wages, the number of 
 jobs, the kind of work, and his advancement. In the discussion 
 comparisons are frequently made with similar reports from other 
 cities; immediately following there will be found the conclusions 
 reached by the Committee and recommendations for further work 
 in the city. 
 
Recommendations. 
 
 As a result of this survey, the Committee makes the following 
 recommendations : 
 
 1. That as rapidly as would be economical, the schools be or- 
 ganized on the "six-three-and-three" plan, beginning differentiated 
 courses in the B7 grade. These courses should follow three broad 
 lines: (1) leading toward the academic courses in high schools: 
 (2) toward the commercial courses, or directly to business ; and (3) 
 toward manual training in high school, or directly to manufactur- 
 ing and mechanical pursuits. 
 
 2. That preparation for the trades can be best and most eco- 
 nomically given in continuation schools, in which the instruction 
 shall be closely related to working conditions, while the necessary 
 skill shall be gained in actual w r ork under the usual commercial 
 conditions. 
 
 3. That the membership of the Thomas Arnold School be en- 
 larged to include all boys who have reached the age of fifteen and 
 have not yet reached the seventh grade. And that a similar school 
 be organized for girls. 
 
 4. That a Department of Vocational Guidance be organized. 
 It should attempt the following work : 1st, a survey of the busi- 
 ness and industries of the city, giving accurate and complete in- 
 formation regarding the wages, hours of labor, chances of promo- 
 tion, sanitation, and moral conditions of each occupation. -2nd, a 
 survey to indicate clearly the value of the present courses of in- 
 struction in high school, not only the industrial and commercial 
 courses, but every course in our schools ; in this should be included 
 a comparison with the product of business colleges and other 
 schools, and the opinions of employers regarding the qualifications 
 of the young persons in their employ. 3rd, vocational guidance, 
 which shall assist a child with his parent to find his proper place at 
 work ; establish a bureau of information for employers and those 
 seeking employment; at its discretion, within the law, issue all 
 labor permits; and have general oversight of the boys and girls 
 at work. 
 
 5. That a set of records be kept of each pupil, giving a com- 
 plete account of his home conditions, his physical condition, and his 
 mental and emotional characteristics, upon which information may 
 be based a judgment concerning his future occupation. 
 
 6. That as an adjunct to the Board of Education an Advisory 
 Commission of fifteen members, composed of employees, employers, 
 and educators be established, whose duty it shall be to report 
 changes in the demands of business and industry, and to advise 
 modifications of the course of study to meet these new demands. 
 
 7. That a law should be enacted, making it mandatory that a 
 
boy shall be either in school or at work up to his eighteenth year, 
 and that the Department of Vocational Guidance be charged with 
 the duty of enforcing such a provision. 
 
 8. That a School Census be taken of the city, the purpose be- 
 ing that all children of school age shall be in school, and that the 
 Board of Education may have the benefit of this information in 
 planning for the future of the city's school system. 
 
 9. That an age-grade census of all pupils in school be taken, to 
 determine where retardation is taking place ; this should be fol- 
 lowed by a study of conditions in order to remove the causes of 
 retardation. 
 
 10. That the Committee endorses the effort in the legislature to 
 secure a Commission to report at the next session upon the whole 
 subject of public chanties, including the relief of destitute widows; 
 and the idea embodied in a bill before the present legislature es- 
 tablishing a minimum wage for girls and women. 
 
Tke S 
 
 urvey. 
 
 In obtaining the names of a representative group of boys and 
 girls who left the schools of Minneapolis in 1907 or 1908 when 
 they were between fourteen and sixteen years old, the following 
 sources were used : 
 
 1. 
 tion; 
 
 Schools records of the seven schools named in the introduc- 
 
 2. The general card catalogue file of pupils no longer in at- 
 tendance at the public schools kept in the Superintendent's office 
 at the Court House; and 
 
 3. The records of employment certificates granted to fourteen- 
 year old children in the above years by the Special Truant Officer of 
 the Public Schools. 
 
 From these records a tentative list was secured which was com- 
 pared with the general school file at the Court House in order to 
 eliminate those who had been transferred to other schools, who 
 had re-entered school after once leaving, or who were known to 
 have left the city. 
 
 The list of 543 names thus obtained was subject to further 
 elimination upon calling at the homes. 185 were struck off the list 
 for the following reasons : 
 
 Death of child _ _ 10 
 
 Removal of family from city _ 35 
 
 Inaccuracy of data as to the age or date at which the 
 child left school 140 
 
 In six instances the information obtained remained incomplete 
 because of lack of time for satisfactory interviews. The remaining 
 352 constitute the group with whom our study is concerned. 
 
 Table I. 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 The following table shows the schools from which the 352 
 children left: 
 
 
 
 
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 * & 
 
A KEPRESENTATIVE RECORD. 
 
 Rebecca C., daughter of Russian Jew parents, left High School in 11 B, 
 1908, aged 16 years. 
 
 The parents, forty -six and forty-five years old respectively, came to New York 
 from Southern Russian twenty-eight years ago. They remained in New York 
 three years, the father following the tailor's trade, which he had learned in the 
 old country. 
 
 Friends of the family persuaded them to come to Minneapolis. Speaking 
 of this change the mother said, "When I lived in New York I knew that the 
 work there was not enough for so many people to live on. The work is too hard 
 there for people to live and do. Most people think it is Heaven, and they stop 
 there for always with their families, and that is not right. The chances here 
 are so much better for the people to work. They have more of fresh air and 
 more rest." 
 
 They came to Minneapolis, taking up their residence in the Jewish district, 
 in a neat little home of seven rooms, for which they paid fourteen dollars a 
 month rent. The father has never been out of work for any great length of 
 time, and the family have been unusually well. They lived entirely upon the 
 earnings of the father, an average of seventy dollars a month, until the eldest 
 son finished the first year of High School, when he went to work as a clerk. After 
 this, and until his marriage in 1911, he helped the family financially. The 
 family have recently purchased a beautiful new home, furnace heated and 
 modern, in another section of the city. They furnished the entire house anew. 
 They belong to no organization except the church. At the time Rebecca left 
 school, there were still four children in school, a son just finishing the grades 
 and three daughters in the grades. 
 
 Rebecca started to school at six years and was graduated from the grades at 
 fourteen years. She comments on her having to leave school thus, ' ' Well, I did 
 not think my father could afford to keep me in school so long. We had a large 
 family and I thought my father had done as much for me as he could afford to 
 do. There were a lot of younger children, and, being the oldest, I felt the respon- 
 sibility of them as an older girl does. I have always wanted an education with 
 all my heart and soul. I longed to be an educated girl." On this the mother 
 said, "The children could all have gone through school all right if they had 
 helped themselves a little. You know in the old country it is so terrible, the 
 children would never have had an education there. In that country only a few 
 can have an education high up, and all the rest cannot have what they wan't. 
 Here I am so ashamed of myself; for everyone is educated. And I never go to 
 the schools and talk with the teachers because I have no education. But my chil- 
 dren they must have the education and know how to talk and enjoy things." 
 
 On the question of education Rebecca says, ' ' I feel that a girl can go through 
 High School and get a great deal out of it, because even then she feels that she 
 has to start in and learn, and does not expect more than she ought to have. In 
 fact, she does not expect as much as she really ought to have ; and to be truthful, 
 she lowers the standard of wages all the time. Now with the boys it is different. 
 A boy is not willing to start in as he ought and work up after he has graduated 
 from the High School. He wants to start in with something more than he de- 
 serves, and he feels himself terribly. If he can go on to the University, it is all 
 right. It is planned for him to do that. I would take my brother out after a 
 
 10 
 
year of High School, and let him work up for himself, knowing that he has every- 
 thing to learn. ' ' 
 
 "I certainly did not think the High School was practical when I was there. 
 Of course the Commercial Course is all right, if you took four years of it ; but I 
 took only two, and when I got through with that well, you know I had to go to 
 Business College anyway. If there had been more practical courses in the High 
 School, I would certainly have kept my brother in longer." 
 
 Rebecca remained at home helping her mother for one year. She says, "I 
 
 was persuaded to go to the - Business College in St. Paul, because 
 
 I had a friend going there at the same time. I saw a lot of girls who had gone 
 to Business College earning good wages and having a lot of things that I wanted 
 and couldn 't have, and so I decided to get to work and learn something that would 
 help me to earn a living." 
 
 After she was graduated from the Business College, she joined an Agency 
 from which she secured several temporary positions. She worked in these from 
 two weeks to six months each. "I made up my mind that I would stay in them 
 as long as there was any opportunity, but that I would never stay in any place 
 that did not offer advancement. ' ' She had almost no dictation in any of the 
 places which she had held for a year and six months in all. Finally the Agency 
 sent her to a Eailroad office, where an expert stenographer was wanted. She said 
 in answer to their question that she was an expert Stenographer. "Now, I was 
 really shaking in my boots when I went there; but I gritted my teeth and said 
 I am going to make a success of this and they won't be able to get along with- 
 out me. Now, I think I have succeeded and they have treated me as white as any 
 place possibly could. They have given me opportunity to do my work as I wanted 
 to; they have given me good vacations and you would have nothing against them 
 as employers if you know how to take care of yourself. Well, I feel that a boy 
 or girl isn't worth anything, if he can't make an employer feel so. If a boy or 
 girl will work for a little, he isn't worth any more. Make yourself efficient and 
 then ask for your proper wages. ' ' 
 
 1 ' Yes, I had to ask for most of my raises. // the High School would train the 
 boys and girls so that they would be ready to go after something with assurance, 
 then they could settle such things as wages when they go to worlc. No one ought 
 to be allowed to go to work for four dollars who is a graduate from High School, 
 and that is what a lot of girls do. ' ' 
 
 In her first position she received five dollars, and worked up to seven dollars 
 as a stenographer. In her last position she started at ten dollars and worked up 
 to thirteen dollars a week. 
 
 Rebecca is helping the younger children through school. The older girls are 
 now in High School, which they are planning to finish. The younger brother who 
 had one term in High School has completed a Business College course. Rebecca 
 is saving money and has entirely supported herself since she started to work. 
 She says, ' ' What is the use of getting an education at all, if you can 't take care 
 of yourself and save a little money? I am trying to save enough, so that I will 
 have a few of the things that I want in the future. ' ' 
 
 She rides to work and usually takes her lunch. She says she takes most of her 
 recreation on Saturday afternoon and evening. "I hardly ever go any place in 
 the evening except to the Library or to take my music lesson. ' ' The mother says 
 of the rest of the children, "The girls have some one here all the time; but I 
 want them to have their company here, and then I know where they are. They 
 
 11 
 
have a good time and I let them have the house. ' ' She said of Rebecca 's am- 
 bition, "She works so much like that all the time and she never rests. It makes 
 her too nervous. ' ' 
 
 Rebecca says, "The school should prepare you to enter a world of Commer- 
 cialism. You are measured in this world by what money you can earn, and you 
 can't tell me that that you are not. Now, no one cares how much Latin and 
 Greek and History and all that stuff you know. They want to know whether you 
 can take care of the goods in their department or office. Now, the school has a 
 lot of faults beside this one. Even if you know what you want, they will not let 
 you take it and then graduate. Why, the Principal had a hard and fast rule 
 when I was there, and there wasn't much choice as to what you could take. How 
 did they know what you wanted to be? Heaven and earth couldn't have made 
 them change their minds; and what's more they knew a lot of boys and girls 
 were leaving school because they couldn't adjust themselves. You would think 
 if they ever found any youngster who knew what he wanted to be, they would 
 let him do it and help him to it." 
 
 Rebecca is a very tense person, tall and strong, with a splendid carriage. 
 She is very neat in her dress and very confident in her manner. She said, "I 
 wish that I had a chance to tell the school what I have learned. I am extreme- 
 ly interested in this. Good Luck to you." 
 
 In reproducing this record the content, rather than the form has been given. 
 
 Table II. 
 NATIONALITY. 
 
 TABLE TL 
 
 of 
 
The nationality of the parents in the family as a unit is here 
 shown. Thus 203 represents not the number of individual parents 
 who were of foreign birth, but the number of families in which both 
 parents were foreign born. 
 
 No comparison with statistics of population for the city is pos- 
 sible, owing to the fact that the Census Report records only the 
 country of birth, without considering the racial extraction of a peo- 
 ple. It may be of interest, however, to note the countries which are 
 the chief source of the foreign born population (85,938) of Minne- 
 apolis. The figures are from the Census Report for 1910. 
 
 FOREIGN BORN POPULATION OF MINNEAPOLIS. 
 
 Sweden -26,455 
 
 Norway -16,401 
 
 Germany 8,653 
 
 Canada 7,492 
 
 Austria 6,104 
 
 Russia 5,675 
 
 Ireland 2,867 
 
 England 2,798 
 
 Denmark 2,025 
 
 Roumania 1,412 
 
 Hungary 1,108 
 
 Scotland 1,060 
 
 Finland 861 
 
 Italy 653 
 
 Greece 463 
 
 Switzerland 319 
 
 France 293 
 
 Other 599 
 
 Of the 352 children, 331, or 94%, were born in the United States. 
 The remaining 21, or 6%, who are of foreign birth, are distributed 
 as follows : 
 
 Jewish 9 
 
 Canadian 4 
 
 German ,- 3 
 
 Swedish -1 
 
 Norwegian 
 
 Polish -1 
 
 English 1 
 
 Danish 
 
 13 
 
Table III. 
 
 PRESENTATION OF THE GROUP. 
 
 Girls 
 
 Girls 
 
 Girls 
 
 fcfW 
 
 Percent 
 
 
 1? 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 as 
 
 Vf 
 
 Girls 
 
 ft 
 
 3/2 
 
 \oo.o 
 
 Percent 
 
 57- 
 
 Two general classifications were made in arranging the group 
 for study, a division by age and by grade in school at the time of 
 leaving. The terms of the latter classification are used as follows : 
 
 Non-graduate : those who did not complete the grade school ; 
 Graduate : 8 A graduates who did not enter high school ; 
 
 High School : those who entered high school and remained for 
 a time varying from 2 months to 2^ years. This classification was 
 found to be more effective as a basis for comparison in the tables 
 showing work and wages than the division by age as will be shown 
 in the discussion of those tables. 
 
 14 
 
Table IV. 
 SCHOOL GRADES. 
 
 Grade 14 yrs. 15 yrs. 16 yrs. Total Per cent 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of 352. 
 
 Third 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 .3 
 
 Fourth 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 2.3 
 
 Fifth 
 
 ! 16 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 7.1 
 
 Sixth 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 32 
 
 9.1 
 
 Seventh 
 
 24 
 
 14 
 
 20 
 
 58 
 
 16.5 
 
 Eighth 
 
 57 
 
 21 
 
 36 
 
 114 
 
 32.4 
 
 High School 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1st year 
 
 22 
 
 29 
 
 31 
 
 82 
 
 23.3 
 
 2nd year 
 
 
 9 
 
 18 
 
 27 
 
 7.6 
 
 3rd year 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 1.4 
 
 Total 139 82 131 352 
 
 A majority (722%) of the whole number left from the last two 
 years of the grade school and the first year of the high school. 
 
 A comparison with the table on page 58, showing the total 
 enrollment of the city by grades in 1908, has some value. 
 
 Grades Boys Per cent Girls Per cent 
 
 
 
 of 352 
 
 
 of 352 
 
 3-5 
 
 24 
 
 6.8 
 
 10 
 
 2.8 
 
 f* 
 
 23 
 
 6.5 
 
 9 
 
 2.6 
 
 7 
 
 38 
 
 10.8 
 
 20 
 
 5.7 
 
 8 
 
 21 
 
 6.0 
 
 9 
 
 2.6 
 
 8A graduates 
 
 41 
 
 11.6 
 
 43 
 
 12.2 
 
 High School 
 
 73 
 
 20.7 
 
 41 
 
 11.6 
 
 Total . 220 62.5 132 37.5 
 
 The per cents here show a larger number of boys than of girls 
 leaving at all points except at the completion of the grades. The 
 proportion bears out the generally accepted fact that girls fit more 
 easily into the school routine than boys and drop out less readily 
 before completing a recognized unit of the school course. 
 
 15 
 
Table V. 
 
 Normal 
 
 
 Boys ..... 
 
 77 
 
 
 35.0 
 
 Girls ..... 
 
 53 
 
 
 40.2 
 
 Total 
 
 
 % of . 
 
 352 
 
 RETARDATION. 
 Over age (retarded) 
 
 68 
 
 yr. 2 yrs. 3 yrs. 4 yrs. 5 yrs. Total. 
 31 24 82 133 
 
 60.5 
 
 Under age (lyr.) 
 
 35 
 
 16 
 
 11 
 
 103 47 35 
 29.3 13.3 9.9 
 
 15 3 
 4.3 .9 
 
 70 
 53 
 203 
 
 10 
 4.5 
 9 
 6.8 
 
 Summary : 
 
 Total normal ................................................................................................ 130 
 
 Total over-age ................................................................................................ 203 
 
 Total under-age .................. . ...................................................................... 19 
 
 36.9% of 352. 
 
 57.7% of 352. 
 
 5.4% of 352. 
 
 Although 203, or 57.7%, of the whole number of boys and girls 
 are found to be retarded, 103, or slightly more than one half of this 
 retarded group are only one year over-age. This leaves 100, or 
 28.4%, of the 352 children who are retarded two years or more. 
 
 The girls make a better scholastic showing than the boys, a 
 smaller proportion being retarded and a larger proportion being 
 one year in advance of the normal grade. 
 
 The question arises here, are the children foreign born parents 
 more often retarded than the children of American parents? The 
 following figures would seem to indicate an affirmative answer. 
 
 One parent foreign-born 
 
 Both parents foreign-born ... 
 Parents American born 
 
 Over age 
 .. 19 
 
 65 
 
 Per cent 
 
 of 352 
 
 5.4 
 
 33.8 
 
 18.5 
 
 Under age 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 Per cent 
 
 of 352 
 
 1.1 
 
 1.1 
 
 3.1 
 
 The attempt to estimate the causes of retardation leads to the 
 following tabulation : 
 
 Change of School Sickness Absence Due to Indlffer- Out to Earn Lack of Difficulty 
 
 City Parochial Country Old Gauntry Child Family encc of Parent Money Interest IB Learning 
 
 3 9 5 8 22 12 17 13 73 41 
 
 Per cent of 352 7.1 9.7 4.8 3.7 20.7 II. 7 
 
 The following comments by parents and children supplement the tabulation: 
 "We were put back two grades when we moved in from Osseo; and then we 
 were kept back when we moved from one school to another here in town." 
 ' ' Public school was harder than the Sisters ' School and different. We didn 't 
 
 16 
 
have the same things. I hated to go and stayed out all I could." 
 
 "I got tired of going to school. I have thought about it a lot, and I think 
 I felt that way because I lost so much schooling when my mother was sick. When 
 she felt bad, she didn't care whether I went to school or not, and I was young 
 enough to think it was a fine thing to be able to stay out." 
 
 "I thought when he got older maybe he could learn more. It didn't seem 
 to make any difference what he studied or who his teacher was, he never could 
 learn." 
 
 Table VI. 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEAVING SCHOOL. 
 
 Parent 
 
 Child 
 
 
 Refused 
 
 For 
 
 
 further 
 
 specialized 
 
 
 education 
 
 education 
 
 One parent 
 
 
 
 foreign born .. 
 
 4 
 
 1 25 
 
 Both parents 
 
 
 
 ofreign born . 
 
 13 
 
 7 102 
 
 
 6.4 
 
 3.4 50.3 
 
 Parents Ameri- 
 can born 2 5 65 
 
 1.8 4.5 58.0 
 
 Total 19 13 192 
 
 Per cent of 352 5.4 3.7 54.5 
 
 Both 
 
 > 
 
 Necessity Indifference 
 
 61 
 30.1 
 
 36 
 32.1 
 
 101 
 
 28.7 
 
 20 
 
 9.8 
 
 4 
 3.6 
 
 27 
 
 7.7 
 
 A sifting of all information as to why the child left school result- 
 ed in placing the burden of responsibility clearly upon the parent 
 or child in 224 families, 63.6% of the 352. In the remaining 128 fam- 
 ilies, no such division of responsibility was apparent. It was pos- 
 sible, however, to distinguish between those parents and children 
 whose decision seemed determined by necessity, due either to the 
 child's ill health or to an insufficient family income, and those who 
 were merely indifferent to further education. 
 
 The nineteen parents who were unwilling to keep the child 
 longer in school, were those whose ideal of education for the child 
 had been fulfilled. It will be seen that a larger proportion of the 
 total foreign born than of the American born parents are repre- 
 sented in this group ; this is true also in the group indifferent to 
 further education. On the other hand, the number of parents who 
 gave the child specialized instruction as a preparation for work 
 shows a larger proportion of American than of foreign born par- 
 ents. Moreover, a higher percentage of Americans are influenced 
 
 17 
 
by necessity; and American children lead the procession of those 
 who determine for themselves whether they shall leave school. 
 
 It is worthy of note that more than half the whole number of 
 children left at their own sweet will. The parents of these chil- 
 dren in some instances opposed their leaving school; but many 
 assumed that the fact that the child did not want to continue in 
 school was ample proof that he would gain nothing by staying. 
 Such remarks as the following are typical of this attitude. 
 
 "We wanted him to go to high school anyway a year; but he didn't want 
 to, and it 's no use trying to force a boy to go to school. ' ' 
 
 "What is the use of trying to give children an education when they won't 
 have it?" 
 
 Remarks representative of the parents' educational ideal for the 
 child are as follows : 
 
 "I think if children can come through the grade school by the time they are 
 fourteen or fifteen, it is a good thing; but they ought not to stay longer if they 
 have not gotten through by then. Of course education is a good thing, and some 
 who are smart and can afford it ought to go to the University. But for work- 
 ingmen's children a trade is better than education after the grade school. Chil- 
 dren ought to take care of themselves after they are fifteen, as they do in the 
 old country after they are confirmed." 
 
 "Of course the children need more education than me and my husband 
 had. We got along all right; but nowadays the children have to know more. I 
 am going to send the younger boys until they get confirmed." 
 
 "I was glad when they got old enough to go to work." 
 
 "A girl only needs enough money to keep her in clothes anyway. It is 
 different with a boy. He needs more education, because he has to go farther. 
 If the girls learn sewing or something like that I think it is different." 
 
 "If you send a girl to high school, maybe she will marry soon after leaving, 
 and you don't get any good out of her." 
 
 ' ' Mary wanted to go to high school awful bad, but I thought this way, we 
 couldn't afford it. It costs a good deal to keep a child in school." 
 
 ' ' Parents must be foolish that would take their children out of school before 
 they have finished the grades. ' ' 
 
 1 ' The two boys finished the grade school when they were thirteen, and we were 
 very anxious that they go through high school. We would have made sacrifices 
 to put them both through high school, if it had been necessary to do so ; but they 
 both left before they had been there a year. They lost all interest and I could 
 see that it was impossible for them to go on in that way." 
 
 "It was our disgrace to have the children stop their school." 
 
 "The boy stuttered so that he was growing stubborn and horrid. I took him 
 out to save him any more embarrassment. ' ' 
 
 "We couldn't keep George in school. It wasn't the books that we minded 
 so much as the clothes. He would have to be dressed good to go to school. ' ' 
 
 ' ' I would as soon think of starving the children as cutting them off from any 
 education we could afford to give them. ' ' 
 
 "I tell you that boy was so smart he didn't need to go to high school." 
 
 "I feel sorry that the school hasn't learned the value of men teachers above 
 a certain grade, say the sixth. These children need men, and good men, too; and 
 they make a great mistake by not having them in the grades." 
 
 18 
 
Table VII. 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 V, 
 
 H 
 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
This table classifies the reasons for leaving school according 
 to the statements made by parent and child. The "Had to go to 
 work" group represents the statement of the parent; when the 
 child alone felt the need of earning money, he is classified under 
 "Child's desire to earn money." In the group of those who dis- 
 liked or were not interested in school are those who were "too big" 
 for their grade, those who "could not learn," those, who, being 
 "hand-minded," were indifferent to instruction from books, and 
 boys who rebelled against the inactive life of the school room. The 
 classification "Further public school not worth while" brings to 
 the front the vocational motive of both parent and child in educa- 
 tion. Of this group many took special courses after leaving school, 
 others went directly to work in the belief that "practical experi- 
 ence is better than schooling." 
 
 The incomes given represent the combined earnings of all mem- 
 bers of the family at the time the child left school. The classifica- 
 tion "independent small income" covers such income as that from 
 a small confectionery, from the rental of rooms, a small inherited 
 income, or the earnings of a junk peddler. "Independent large in- 
 come" is used to classify the income from a prosperous bakery or 
 grocery, and the earnings of such a business as bridge and pile 
 contracting. It was difficult to estimate the monthly average of 
 such incomes. 
 
 The graphic form of the table calls attention to the fact that the 
 majority of fourteen year children are in the low income divisions 
 of the "Had to go to work" group, while the majority of the six- 
 teen year old children are found in the higher income divisions of 
 the "Disliked or not interested in school" group. 
 
 Representative remarks on reasons for leaving school are 
 quoted : 
 
 TO EARN MONEY. 
 
 "I had to leave, but that wasn't the only reason. I had an idea in my head 
 that I wanted to get out and earn money." 
 
 "I was growing up to be a young lady, and I wanted clothes that were reas- 
 onable. I intended to go back after I had earned some money.' 7 
 
 "I could have stayed in school longer, but you don't like to ask your father 
 for all the things that you need in high school. You had to have so many more 
 clothes than you need if you go to Business College. You like to dress like the 
 girls do in high school, or else you hate to go." 
 
 HAD TO GO TO WORK. 
 BOY. 
 
 * ' There are nine of us children and I am the oldest so I had to help my 
 father. I worked as telegraph messenger after school till about 11 o'clock at 
 
 20 
 
night. I was so tired every day in school that I couldn't learn much. At last 
 I gave up trying to get through the grades." 
 
 ' ' I had to leave on account of my folks was down and out. ' ' 
 
 GIEL. 
 
 "I liked high school and wished I could keep on with it, but my two sisters 
 were working to support the family and I had to do something to help. At the 
 time I probably did not say that I had to leave, but that was the real reason. 
 I don 't believe anyone leaves school because they want to. They are just ashamed 
 to give the true reason. ' ' 
 
 DISLIKED OR NOT INTERESTED IN SCHOOL. 
 BOYS. 
 
 ' ' I wouldn 't go to school any longer. No one could make me. ' ' 
 
 "I merely quit because most of my friends were quitting." 
 
 "I did not like the way they did things in school. I don't have anything 
 to do with anything that looks like it either. I haven't had anything to do with 
 school since I left. They just put me out bodily." 
 
 i l The reason that I left high school was that there were too many dry studies 
 altogether. ' ' 
 
 ' ' I got disgusted with school and wanted to work. The trouble with me was 
 that I didn't take enough interest and wouldn't study. I hadn't no more than 
 quit when I wished I was back." 
 
 t ' I was tired going to school and I wanted to get out sunny days. ' ' 
 
 "I didn't like the idea of sitting still in school all day and chewing the rag 
 with the teacher." 
 
 ' ' If you gave John hammer and nails and set him to doing something, he was 
 all right. He told me when manual training was discontinued in his grade that 
 there was nothing to stay in school for. His teacher helped me get a permit for 
 him." (Mother a widow.) 
 
 ' ' The boy didn 't want to stay in school. Goodness only knows we tried hard 
 enough to make him. It wasn't because he was not good in his work; and it was 
 not because he was not interested in learning things, because all my children are 
 anxious to learn. I know now that he would have been interested in the Agri- 
 cultural School, but I was always talking Dentist to him then." 
 
 "His teacher from the grade school advised him to take the Commercial 
 Course in high school and he did, but he started wrong. He was of a mechan- 
 ical turn of mind and so he didn't like it. He has often said since that if he 
 had been studying anything about machines he would have been crazy about 
 school. If the school would keep in closer touch with the boys and girls, it would 
 benefit the school as well as the boys and girls." 
 
 GIRLS. 
 
 "Well, if you want to know the truth, I didn't care for school at all. I 
 really couldn't bear to go. I was awfully glad when I was out. I didn't pass 
 
 21 
 
one time and I don't think the teachers care much about you when you are not 
 up to grade, and they don't make it very interesting for you. It wasn't that I 
 didn't want to know anything I wanted to study, but I was always unhappy in 
 school as far back as I can remember. Of course, I hated some things, and it is 
 hard when you are a child to learn things you haven't the least interest in. I 
 feel the same way about those things now. ' ' 
 
 ' ' I never could seem to learn very well. I was a lot more interested in keeping 
 house. I loved to stay at home and do the house work. ' ' 
 
 "I do not think it is important for a girl to have any more education than 
 the 8th grade. They have other plans, and there isn't anything in school that 
 would need to keep a girl in school longer than that. ' ' 
 
 TROUBLE WITH THE TEACHER. 
 
 ' ' That teacher put me off the track. I couldn 't stand it to go to school 
 any longer." 
 
 We were certainly anxious to have him stay in school and get a good educa- 
 tion; but it just seemed impossible to have him stay, for he certainly did not get 
 along with the teacher that he had at the last. ' ' 
 
 1 i I was always having to go to school to see about something about John, and 
 he wasn 't a bad boy either ; for he has never been impudent to me in all my life. 
 The teacher said the last time, "It is his refusal to do certain things that I 
 cannot have." So he didn't go back and he seemed to feel so bad about it 
 that I didn't make him. No one came to see about him, but I think if they had 
 he would have gone back all right. I had more trouble with him in that one room 
 than I did with all my children all through school." 
 
 FAILURE TO PASS. 
 
 ' ' I couldn 't pass in Grammar. I hated it. I think I would hate it just as bad 
 now. I think the schools make a great mistake by not passing a fellow when he 
 can pass in all but one subject. If you keep a fellow back, he isn't going to 
 high school if he is a great big fellow with a lot of little fellows." 
 
 "I didn't pass from B 8th. That was mostly why I quit. I had intended to 
 go to high school but I wanted to go with my class." 
 
 FURTHER PUBLIC SCHOOL NOT WORTH WHILE. 
 
 "When I was in grade school I enjoyed it and I worked hard there; but when 
 I got to high school there was nothing to hold me: I was not working to a 
 
 ose." 
 
 : I did not think I could go through the University, and I do not think a 
 fellow can get much out of high school unless he can go on. The courses are all 
 planned for the fellows who can go on in school. I was planning to go into some 
 sort of business; and if I had thought any of the work would help me in business, 
 I would have stayed all right." 
 
 22 
 
' ' All of us can 't be professional men and we can 't afford to be going to 
 school just to be cultured. There is nothing practical in the high school course, 
 especially in the last two years. You can get all that will help you at all in busi- 
 ness in the first two years." 
 
 ' ' I wanted to take German instead of Latin in the last two years of high 
 school, but they wouldn't let me do it and graduate. Now I liked Latin, but I 
 had a position promised me when I should get through school in which my future 
 depended on my knowledge of German. Later the principal told me that I could 
 come back ; but it was too late, for I was already at work. ' ' 
 
 John said, ' ' Mother, I want to be doing something that counts. That school 
 work doesn't half satisfy me." 
 
 23 
 
n 
 
 j, 
 
 aia 
 
 24 
 
The graphic table presenting parental condition at the time the 
 child left school shows that there are 249 families (including 
 "parents living," "father out of work," "one step-parent") in which 
 the father is a wage earner for the family. In the remaining 103 
 families, 29.3% of the 352, an abnormal condition existed result- 
 ing from the death of both parents, or the death, divorce, non-sup- 
 port, or physical disability of the father. There are represented 
 in this number eight orphans, seventy-one widows, and twenty- 
 five families not supported by the father. In nine of the twenty- 
 five families, the father was permanently disabled by sickness; in 
 five the parents had been long divorced ; and in eight the father did 
 not assume the responsibility for the support of the family, because 
 of his drunkenness, periodical desertion, or the separation of the 
 parents. In the three remaining families, two fathers were unable 
 to work because of temporary illness ; and one father, whose deser- 
 tion was the cause of the child's leaving school, later returned and 
 resumed his responsibilities. 
 
 Certain facts are brought to the attention by the graphic form 
 of the table. In the classifications of families in which a father 
 was not contributing to the family income, the fourteen-year old 
 children are found to predominate, there being sixty-five of the 
 fourteen-year, fifteen of the fifteen-year, and twenty-seven of the 
 sixteen-year group entered under the headings: 'parents dead/ 
 'father not able to work/ 'father out of work/ and 'father divorced 
 or non-supporting/ In the classifications 'parents living/ 'one step- 
 parent/ and 'mother dead/ the sixteen-year group has the largest 
 representation. 
 
 A dividing line in the table drawn between the income divisions 
 at $75 shows a total of 156 (44.3%) above the line and 196 
 (55.7%) below. It will be noted that the largest part of the groups 
 classifying families abnormal in parental condition are included in 
 the lower income divisions above the line, while the groups con- 
 taining the more normal families are largely represented in the 
 higher incomes below the line. 
 
 Table IX. 
 
 Fetmi// 
 
 fcttf*-* 
 
 
 ^rrrnf 
 
 Tl^ktr 
 
 
 
 
 ChiM 
 
 r-' 
 
 E*- 
 
 ^ 
 
 [per in 
 
 enth) 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 jf.noj 
 
 Jnco 
 
 i 
 
 Hfl lr 
 
 
 '& 
 
 CM 
 
 
 sij 
 
 o^ 
 
 &%j 
 
 rt 
 
 /f- 
 
 ay 
 
 a^ 
 
 9<7- 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 if- 
 
 l'l$~ 
 
 f 
 
 isc; 
 
 Offcr 
 
 BM 
 
 rW 
 
 
 cw 
 
 
 
 3-r 
 
 I 
 
 13, 
 
 ss 
 
 /> 
 
 19 
 
 S7 
 
 JM 
 
 19. 
 
 fy 
 
 2/g 
 
 32 
 
 /x 
 
 n 
 
 v/- 
 
 /*5 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 " iT 
 
 / 
 
 
 7 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 3. 
 
 
 ; 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f-jr-jf 
 
 t 
 
 '7 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 / 
 
 1 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 -*> 
 
 52 
 
 c-a. 
 
 / 
 
 
 f 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 S. 
 
 
 < 
 
 17 
 
 / 
 
 ^ 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 f 
 
 
 fcST&SJ 
 
 /? 
 
 i-1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 / 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 ' 
 
 a 
 
 10 
 
 / 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 IS 
 
 
 ?#' ?? 
 
 V* 
 
 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 A 
 
 , 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 -7- 
 
 33 
 
 IO 
 
 
 
 /& 
 
 S7 
 
 
 106- >1 f 
 
 ?/ 
 
 t f 
 
 
 
 if 
 
 / 
 
 
 2 
 
 8. 
 
 3 
 
 f 
 
 y 
 
 S6 
 
 S 
 
 / 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 
 iff - : 
 
 i> 
 
 .(, 
 
 
 
 a. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 i-o 
 
 
 
 J2 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 7 
 
 /f 
 
 /f 
 
 
 - -ToM 
 
 3f 
 
 
 rr 
 
 f 
 
 131 
 
 C9 
 
 /? 
 
 /5 
 
 27 
 
 96 
 
 2. 
 
 f3 
 
 2/S 
 
 34 
 
 // 
 
 7A 
 
 17r 
 
 us 
 
 
 fVrctnf 
 
 
 
 /*: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 **r 
 
 
 
 
 IS? 
 
 ft! 
 
 
 25 
 
This table shows the sources of the family income at the time 
 the child left school. The earnings of the father and of the older 
 children in the family are given separately and other sources of 
 income such as mother's earnings, house rent, and roomers or 
 boarders are indicated. The classification "other" additional in- 
 . come includes the assistance given by friends or relatives, small in- 
 herited sums of money, or the income from invested money. 
 
 There are 107 families in which no father was contributing to 
 the family income, as shown in the previous table. In this group, 
 too, are found forty-nine of the fifty-five mothers who were wage 
 earners and sixty-two of the 213 families in which children were 
 earning. In thirty-seven families the mother was the only wage 
 earner for the family. A small additional income supplements the 
 earnings in fifty of the families. The aggregate income as shown 
 in Table 8 is less than $75 a month for eighty-six, or 80.4% of the 
 107 families, and $75 a month or over in the remaining twenty- 
 one families. 
 
 The classification 'intermittent day labor' was used in recording 
 the father's earnings because, although difficult to estimate, the 
 amount thus earned seemed in every .instance insufficient for the 
 support of the family. The average family in this group was eight, 
 a fact which may explain why there was only one mother earning. 
 The fact that in only four of these eleven families were there older 
 children at work, and that in none of them was there other addi- 
 tional income, suggests their economic status. 
 
 The following figures apply to the whole 352 families. 
 
 Average family 5. 7 
 
 Homes owned _ 163 
 
 Average rent paid ~ $12.60 a month 
 
 Average earnings of children in the 213 families $48.56 a month 
 
 At this point it will be interesting to study the contribution 
 to the family income made by the 352 boys and girls of the group 
 since they left school. 
 
 Twelve girls and four boys are married and have homes of 
 their own. Two boys are in penal institutions. Nine girls and 
 twenty-two boys either have no home, or have sought work out 
 of the city and are living away from home. The following figures 
 apply to the remaining 111 girls, and 192 boys: 
 
 Girls Per cent of Boys Per cent 
 
 all girls. of all. 
 
 Number who "turn all money in" to home 47 35.7 106 48.1 
 
 Number who pay regular board at home 16 12.2 57 23.2 
 
 Total _ 63 47.9 157 71.3 
 
 Number who do not pay board 48 36.5 35 16.2 
 
 Number saving money 15 11.4 69 31.1 
 
 Number boys and girls who are the sole support 
 
 of their mother or themselves 24 
 
 26 
 
The wage tables, showing the comparative earnings of boys 
 and girls, are the best commentary on these figures* for they in- 
 dicate that it would be difficult for a girl to save money out of 
 her wages. 
 
 Table X. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF "HAD TO GO TO WORK" GROUP. 
 
 wuqe of 
 
 child 
 
 Tiu. tuber 
 i-n f 0,tni |u 
 
 Hornet 
 
 CttYTi 
 and 
 
 chfn 
 
 {k 
 
 33 
 
 /I 
 
 
 '/* 
 
 ty 
 
 fo 
 
 totals 
 
 47 
 
 ft 
 
 SO 
 
 The following points may be noted in the make-up of the group : 
 a. 74, or 59.2% of the group (125), left school before completing 
 the grades; b. 51, or 71.8% of the total number of widows are 
 represented in the group ; c. 34, or 27.2% of the 125 families, owned 
 their own homes. 
 
 Since this group is determined from the parent's statement, some 
 whose circumstances would seem to warrant it are not included 
 here, notably the children of the twenty widows represented in 
 other groups of the "Reasons for Leaving" table. Some also are 
 placed in this group on the parent's statement who would not 
 otherwise have been included. 
 
 Of the 156 families represented in Table 8 as having an aggre- 
 gate income of less than $75 a month, only 75, or 48.1%, are found 
 in this group. But of the 196 having an income of more than $75 
 a month, 50, or 25.5%, are found here. These figures emphasize 
 the fact that real economic pressures did not exist in all of the 
 families in which the parent said that the child had to leave school. 
 
 27 
 
Table XL 
 
 Education lifter Ledvi.no - 
 
 
 PA 
 
 Jx, 
 
 ScWl 
 
 Qusme 
 
 ne. . 
 
 CWrejfW- 
 x _* 
 
 y.wca 
 
 Ra^fl-V 
 
 Wu.*'C 
 ft-nd 
 
 fe !sr 
 
 &/ 
 
 
 
 QWe 
 
 'S h 
 
 ^CnOc 
 
 fe;i 
 
 COU.YSC 
 
 Scf, of 
 
 ence CvnT 
 
 Cours^ 
 
 fgrnce 
 
 c/rnmotic 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 E 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 HcUfo 
 ^to worK 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 // 
 
 10 
 
 
 5 
 
 3" 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 3? 
 
 
 CUdi desire 
 f ear?) IWOTVU 
 
 
 y 
 
 / 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 ^ 
 
 yr 
 
 
 Kept, 
 focal/on w0rK 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 d* 
 
 
 Dislike^ W Tiof 
 iTiferesfed n 
 
 5che / 
 
 y 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 // 
 
 
 j~ 
 
 3 
 
 / 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 9-(? 
 
 
 T*^t>le >fiH 
 
 thtt feather 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 3 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5- 
 
 
 Failure fo 
 pats 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 PHY! tat" public 
 Sckol noT . 
 Worth tf'/iile 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 23 
 
 3. 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 / 
 
 ,?y 
 
 
 T.M 
 
 2 
 
 ^ 
 
 Hi 
 
 ^j 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 /5 
 
 2 
 
 ;/ 
 
 3 
 
 /s^- 
 
 
 fercejjf 
 flf 3*2, 
 
 
 f-J 
 
 \ 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 /// 
 
 
 
 ^./ 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Of the 135 represented in this table, 111, or 31.6% of the whole 
 group (352), voluntarily returned to grade or high school for 
 further work, or they paid for instruction given by the Y. M. C. A., 
 or by a commercial institution. The 24 not included in this number 
 were required to attend public evening school by the terms of their 
 Employment Certificate, but took no further work. 
 
 The reasons for leaving school are given here, since it is of 
 interest to know the relation existing between the number repre- 
 sented in this table and the total in each group of the Reasons 
 For Leaving table. The tabulation for those who voluntarily took 
 further education is as follows : 
 
 
 Total in 
 
 Number who 
 
 %of 
 
 
 group 
 
 took further 
 
 total 
 
 
 
 education 
 
 in group 
 
 Further public school not worth while 
 
 50 
 
 34 
 
 68.0 
 
 Kept vacsition work 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 55.1 
 
 
 
 
 
 Child 's desire to earn, money 
 
 29 
 
 14 
 
 49.0 
 
 Disliked or not interested in school . 
 
 104 
 
 27 
 
 24.3 
 
 Had to ffo to work 
 
 125 
 
 21 
 
 16.3 
 
 Ill health 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 30.0 
 
 Trouble with teacher ... 
 
 ... 11 
 
 4 
 
 36.4 
 
 ESTIMATED AMOUNT PAID OUT BY THOSE WHO TOOK BUSINESS 
 
 COURSES $4425.00. 
 
 (The cost for each course is counted as $75). 
 28 
 
COMMENTS BY PARENTS AND CHILDREN: 
 
 "I wanted to be more educated and I thought I would take up work in even- 
 ing school. I did learn some things I had forgotten about, like fractions; but it 
 was too hard on the nerves after working all day so I gave it up." 
 
 "I went to evening school several winters. I had about the same work all the 
 time, but at least it kept me from forgetting what I had learned before I left 
 school. ' ' 
 
 ' ' John was supposed to be going to school, and he did start ; but of course he 
 never finished. ' ' 
 
 "John started to night school, but he could not make it. He was too tired, 
 and he did not like it. ' ' 
 
 ' ' I always thought I would go to evening school, but I never seemed to feel 
 like it when I got through work." 
 
 "I started in to take an evening course, but you know how it is. I was 
 tired after I had worked all day, and the first thing I knew some one was whist- 
 ling outside my window." 
 
 "I wouldn't be doing factory work now if I had gone on to High School." 
 
 ' ' We had always had dreams of the children doing nice work ; and when 
 Mary could not get a good position because she did not have enough education, 
 it made me feel terrible." 
 
 "The thing that bothers me more now is that John cannot get any farther 
 unless he had some more education. He needs more education to be worth what 
 he has to have to earn a living. He asked for more money where he is working 
 because he needs it; but I do not think he is worth it." 
 
 ' ' I have always thought if I had more education it would be easier to find 
 something to do." 
 
 "I took all the things in evening school that I saw I needed after I had 
 been at work a long time. I saw, too, that I could never get ahead there or any- 
 where else probably, unless I had some more education." 
 
 ' ' I would be a much better stenographer to-day if I had more general educa- 
 tion and I could earn $65 a month easily. I have had one such position, but I 
 couldn't keep it because I didn't know enough." 
 
 "I'd give anything now if I had a good education. In the work that I am in 
 now I realize that I can never get up as high as I want to unless I can take up 
 more education. All the men who have taken up travelling salesmanship and 
 been successful have had a better education than I have. All the fellows know 
 that they cannot expect to make good unless they have more education." 
 
TABLE XII. 
 
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 31 
 
From these tables we find the boys and girls distributed among 
 the gainful occupations as follows: 
 
 1907-8 1912 
 
 .6% AGRICULTURE 3% 
 
 .3 PROFESSIONAL SERVICE.... 2.8 
 
 7.9 DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE 14.3 
 
 65.3 TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION... 54.8 
 
 24.3 MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL 2 7.2 
 
 .6 MISCELLANEOUS .3 
 
 The large gain in the "Domestic and Personal Service" in 1912 
 is an interesting thing to note. The increase in number seems to 
 have been drawn from the Non-Graduate children. 
 
 Fifteen different trades in the beginning are to be contrasted 
 with twenty-eight in 1912. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS AT STARTING WORK. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS: , ; 
 
 Boys. 
 Non. Grad. H. S. 
 
 Farm Hand 1 
 
 Farmer . 1 
 
 Girls. 
 Non. Grad. II. S. 
 
 Total 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 (2) 
 
 PROFESSIONAL SERVICE: 
 Actor ................................................ 
 
 (1) 
 
 DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL PURSUITS 
 
 Non. 
 
 Boys. 
 Grad. 
 
 Nurse maid 
 House work 
 House work at home 
 Laundry work 
 Bell Boy _______ 
 
 Elevator boy 
 
 Waiter ............................................. 
 
 Laborers (a) ........................... 
 
 Hairdressing 
 
 H. S. 
 
 Girls. 
 Non. Grad. H. S. 
 
 1 ... 1 
 111 
 212 
 
 2 1 
 
 3 (12) 7 
 
 4 (16) 
 
 Total 
 2 
 3 
 5 
 3 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 7 
 
 28 
 
 32 
 
TEADE AND TEANSPOETATION : 
 
 Errands _.... 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 4\m 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o7 
 
 Office boy or girl 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 2 
 
 14 
 
 Cash .. 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 81 
 
 MO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Zo 
 
 Stock 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 4. 
 
 9 1 
 
 "i A 
 
 
 
 
 
 TC 
 
 M 1 
 
 10 
 
 Bundle boy or girl 
 
 . 2 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 1 
 
 7 
 
 Soda Fountain 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 Driver (b) ..._ 
 
 , 8 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 13 
 
 Ass't shipping clerk 
 
 2 
 
 ... 
 
 3 
 
 ... 
 
 
 5 
 
 Clerical office 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 PJ 
 
 6Q 
 
 j.ft 
 
 Telephone operator 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 4 
 
 if 
 
 5 3 
 
 12 
 
 Sales clerk 
 
 3 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 Cashier 
 
 ... 
 
 _. 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 Stenographer (c) 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 5 8 
 
 16 
 
 Book-keeper 
 
 ... 
 
 ~ 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 City salesman .... 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 53 26 55 (134) 34 30 32 (96) 230 
 
 MANUFACTUEING AND MECHANICAL PUESUITS : 
 
 Misc. factory work 315 4 423 49 
 
 Machine operator _ 11 ... 21 ... 5 
 
 Laboratory helper 1 ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Stationary fireman ... 1 ... ... ... 1 
 
 Automobile mechanic ..- ... 2 ... ... ... 2 
 
 Whip maker 1 ... ... ... 1 
 
 Baker . 2 ... ... 2 
 
 Tinner 2 ... ... ... ... ... 2 
 
 Machinist 3 ... 1 ... ... 4 
 
 Iron-worker 1 ... 1 ... ... 2 
 
 Carpenter ... 1 ... ... ... 1 
 
 Brick layer ... 1 1 
 
 Printer 1 3 ... 4 
 
 Butcher 1 ... 1 
 
 Electric worker ... 2 ... ... ... 2 
 
 Plumber 1 ... ... 1 
 
 Painter & paper hanger 1 ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Jeweler 1 ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Milliner ... 222 6 
 
 Dressmaker ... ... ... 2 ... 2 
 
 46 10 13 (69) 875 (20) 89 
 33 
 
MISCELLANEOUS: ,^_ . " Jg -." , 
 
 Boys. Girls. 
 
 Non. Grad. H. S. Non. Grad. H. S. Total 
 
 Bunning Merry- go-Bound ... 1 ... _. ._ _. 1 
 
 Miscellaneous jobs 1 _ _. _ 1 
 
 2 ... (2) ... 2 
 
 352 
 
 (a) Fourteen years. 
 
 (b) Only one sixteen years old. 
 
 (c) All sixteen years old. 
 
 Just at this point it will be interesting to note the occupations 
 of all the boys and girls out of school on labor permits on Febru- 
 ary fifteenth of this year (1913.) 
 
 GIBLS, 152. 
 Box making 5 
 
 "* O 
 
 Bundling : 3 
 
 Cookies, Icing - _ _ 3 
 
 packing 6 
 
 Crapping . 4 
 
 Cashier 8 
 
 Candy, dipping ~ 3 
 
 packing '. - 5 
 
 Clerking - - - 12 
 
 Errands .._ 1 
 
 Housework ~ _ 4 
 
 Labelling _ 2 
 
 Laundry, folding - 2 
 
 ironing ... ~ - - ~ 1 
 
 snaking . - - - - 9 
 
 Mechanic's helper 5 
 
 Millinery apprentice 
 
 Office woi*lr ,.... ... 3 
 
 Picking seeds ~ 
 
 Bunning cash 55 
 
 Silver custodian 
 
 Stock clerk ~ - 4 
 
 Telephone operator 
 
 Waitress ~_ _ - - 2 
 
 34 
 
BOYS, 271. 
 
 Bell hop 2 
 
 Box making 4 
 
 Bundling 4 
 
 Cashier - - - 1 
 
 Clerking - 10 
 
 T)T*ivvn & - ..* 8 
 
 Mechanic's Helpers -~ .61 
 
 IVt" f*8S6 n T6rs ,...47 
 
 Office work - 22 
 
 Eunning cash - 4 
 
 Rivet heating - 3 
 
 Eunning errands 56 
 
 Special delivery - 28 
 
 Stock clerk - - 7. 
 
 Tobacco stripping - 1 
 
 Trucking - * 
 
 Typesetting - 2 
 
 Usher 
 
 1 
 
 Waiter - l 
 
 Water carriers _ - 8 
 
 OCCUPATIONS IN 1912. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL PUESUITS: 
 
 Boys. Girls. 
 
 Non. Grad. H. S. Non. Grad. H. S. Total 
 
 Horse dealer 1 
 
 (1) 
 
 PROFESSIONAL SEE VICE : 
 
 Newspaper reporter 1 
 
 Y. M. C. A. assistant 1 
 
 Dancing teacher 1 
 
 Music teacher 
 
 Stage 1211 5 
 
 1 3 2 (6) 1 2 ... (3) 9 
 
 35 
 
DOMESTIC AND PEESONAL SERVICE: 
 
 Laundry work 1 1 ... 2 ... ... 4 
 
 House work 2 2 
 
 House work at home 728 17 
 
 Elevator man 3 1 
 
 Paving work 3 
 
 Laborers 13 1 2 16 
 
 Ushers 1 1 
 
 Hair dresser 1214 
 
 20 2 3 (25) 12 4 10 (26) 51 
 
 TEADE AND TEANSPOETATION : 
 
 Special delivery 
 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 ShirjDer 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 10 
 
 ri: 
 
 Driver 
 
 11 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 I I 1 
 
 16 
 
 Collector 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Demonstrator 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Telephone operator 
 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 4 2 
 
 6 
 
 Eunning soda fountain ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 Stock clerk 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 Sales clerk 
 
 4 
 
 p 
 
 
 934 
 
 22 
 
 Cashier 
 
 
 
 
 2 1 
 
 3 
 
 Stenographer 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 12 10 
 
 24 
 
 Book-keeper 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 1 1 
 
 10 
 
 Wholesale order clerk 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 6 
 
 Travelling salesman 
 
 1 
 
 , 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 City salesman 
 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 ... 
 
 6 
 
 Inspector 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Office clerks, Bank 
 
 
 ... 
 
 4 
 
 ... 
 
 4 
 
 Eailroad ... 
 
 
 ... 
 
 7 
 
 1 1 
 
 9 
 
 Broker 
 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 Other 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 789 
 
 44 
 
 Telegraph operator 
 
 1 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 1 
 
 Assistant buyer 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Assistant manager 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Own business _.. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 ... 
 
 5 
 
 Eailroad work 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 7 
 
 45 18 51 (114) 22 30 27 (79) 193 
 
 36 
 
MISCELLANEOUS : 
 
 Boys. Girls. 
 
 Non. Grad. H. S. Non. Grad. H. S. Total 
 
 Prostitute (a) ... ... 1 ... 1 
 
 (a) A fourteen year old girl who began as a messenger. 352 
 
 MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL PURSUITS: 
 
 Factory work 
 
 
 
 
 
 Machine operator 
 
 2 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 512 11 
 
 General work 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 6 4 19 
 
 Gold weigher 
 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 Milliner 
 
 
 
 
 2.1 3 
 
 Dressmaker 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 Stationary fireman 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Running theatre lantern 
 
 1 
 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 Picture framer 
 
 1 
 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 Railroad shop helper 
 
 1 
 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 Mechanic 
 
 2 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 Machinist 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 Installing telephones . 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Electricians ... 
 
 4 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 4 
 
 Boiler maker 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 Plumber 
 
 1 
 
 . 
 
 
 1 
 
 Steam fitter __ 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Shop drafter 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Pattern maker 
 
 
 1 
 
 ._ 
 
 1 
 
 Surveying crew worker 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Photographer 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 Glass beveller _._ 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 
 1 
 
 Jeweller 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Mechanical dentist 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 Printer 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 Carpenter 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Iron worker 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Sign painter 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 Painter & paper hanger 
 
 1 
 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 Whip maker 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Butcher _. . 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Tinner _ 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Brick layer 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Baker _ 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 Maltster 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 Beer bottler ... 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 38 19 17 (74) 13 6 4 (23) 97 
 
 37 
 
In "Domestic and Personal Service," two of the High School 
 boys listed were fourteen years of age. They are found in the same 
 classification in 1912. 
 
 In "Trade and Transportation" eleven of the seventeen drivers 
 are fourteen years old. Only four of the total number were High 
 School boys and these were automobile truck drivers. 
 
 Thirty-eight of the forty-four errand boys were in the four- 
 teen-year group. 
 
 No High School boys ''ran cash," but one High School girl 
 worked as cash girl. 
 
 Of the four stock clerks, three were sixteen years of age. These 
 are now, in 1912, head stock clerks. 
 
 In "Clerical Office" (1907-8), we found only three fourteen- 
 year girls out of seventeen, and each of these had some business 
 training. 
 
 "Salesclerks" were from the fourteen-year group and represent 
 small stores. 
 
 "Office boy or girl" represents the bottom of the ladder in any 
 business system, and many of the children are still in the office in 
 which they started. 
 
 "Office clerks" work was about evenly divided among the age 
 groups. 
 
 BOYS IN TRADE. 
 
 In "Manufacturing and Mechanical Pursuits" the question of 
 trades presents itself. The figures for boys are given. 
 
 Total number in trades at some time from 1907 to 1912 ...64 
 
 Number that "did not stick" _ 13 
 
 Number remaining in trade in 1912 51 
 
 Number different trades entered 28 
 
 The thirteen that dropped out of the trades left for such reasons 
 as; "didn't like it and wasn't getting along very well," "had a 
 chewing match with the superintendent and quit," "quit for more 
 money and have been sorry ever since." More than one boy left a 
 good place without realizing how hard it would be to find the same 
 work again. 
 
 There were many mechanically minded boys, however, who 
 Avorked against great odds in order to get into a trade. In answer 
 to questions which might throw light on the subject of the child's 
 aptitudes, it was found that in forty-nine cases the boys knew what 
 they wanted and looked consistently for the opportunity to carry 
 out their aim. The efforts of some to enter a trade found imme- 
 diate reward while others were from seven months to four years 
 getting into trades. 
 
 38 
 
34 boys secured entrance into a trade through their own efforts ; 
 32 were helped into trades by their family or friends; 
 2 were unsuccessful in finding a trade. 
 
 Many of the boys feel very bitter about the many trials they 
 had to undergo before getting the long looked for opportunity. 
 "A fellow has to have some friends to help him in order to get a 
 chance at a trade." One mother said, "It was all right when my 
 youngest boy wanted to learn a trade, because I had a friend who 
 
 helped him in; but I didn't know anyone to get to help G 
 
 along, and he hasn't seemed to have a ghost of a chance at the 
 machinist's trade and the boy can't ever think of anything else." 
 
 The non-graduate boys and even many of the graduate boys feel 
 that, "if a fellow has no more education than I have, the best thing 
 he can do is to learn a trade." 
 
 One boy tells his experience in getting into a trade as follows : 
 "I was sent on an errand and saw a sign in the window, 'Press Feeder 
 Wanted ! ' I didn 't know what a press looked like ; but the pay and the hours 
 seemed better than where I was working, so I took the job. After a while I de- 
 cided that a press feeder was just a machine and I wanted to learn the trade. 
 I have had good luck so far. I have never been fired, but I have had a good many 
 things to buck, for the firms I worked for kept going out of business. But you 
 just have to keep a-climbing if you want to get anywhere." 
 
 Another says of his experience, "I guess it was the first place I struck when 
 I was looking for a job; but I told them when I went there that I wanted to 
 learn a trade/They didn't tell me that there was no trade to learn there. But 
 the first chance I got I went around the factory at noon time. I saw right off 
 that there wouldn't be any chance to learn anything there. All the materials 
 were shipped in from out of the city and all we did was to put the finishing touches 
 on. So I quit. ' ' 
 
Table XIV. 
 
 N11MRFR OF JOBS HF I P. 
 
 GIRLS 
 
 H ICH 5CHOSL. 
 
 ROYS. 
 
 TIMS PP J8- 
 
 Ar.l T' 
 
 40 
 
The median in jobs for both boys and girls falls at three. Two 
 things account for the fact that the girls hold fewer jobs than the 
 boys; they are more conservative about making changes and they 
 have fewer opportunities than boys to change to other occupa- 
 tions. This condition is more pronounced among the girls who 
 had the least education and were not able to continue their educa- 
 tion after leaving school. Many of the girls bettered themselves 
 by taking business courses even though they remained with the 
 same firm. 
 
 The sixteen-year old High School boys and girls consistently 
 enter fewer different occupations than the other groups. 
 
 The boys gave their reasons for hunting new places to work as 
 follows: "wanted better pay," "no chance there," and ' 'didn't like 
 it." Other reasons given many times are : "joined an agency and 
 found a better job," "laid off," "was let out," "work too hard," 
 "flour dust made me sick," "tired of it," "got canned," "foreman 
 and I couldn't agree," "got to chewing the rag with the boss," 
 "they couldn't give me a raise and I left," "wanted to learn a trade." 
 
 An interesting situation is presented in the following table 
 showing the means through which the children found their work. 
 
 Number. Per cent. 
 
 By application _ _ ..-139 39.5 
 
 Through a friend _ 82 23.3 
 
 Through the family _ . _ 55 15.6 
 
 By an "Ad" in a paper _ _... 39 11.1 
 
 Through an agency _ 17 4.8 
 
 By a sign in a window - _ - ~ _ - - 10 2.8 
 
 Through the public school - ~ 6 1.7 
 
 At home (girls) _ 4 1.1 
 
 Remarks directly quoted from the parents of children are very 
 indicative of the situation in many cases. Foreign born parents 
 have thrown their children more upon their resources in finding 
 their work. These parents seemed on the whole to know less of 
 real conditions under which the child worked and took more for 
 granted in most cases. 
 
 A boy promoted from clerk to wholesale order clerk: "I was so busy getting 
 into something that I never stopped to think whether I could do any of the 
 work or not." 
 
 A girl who secured a position addressing envelopes through an "ad" in the 
 paper : ' He used to ask me to go out with him to lunch and to spend iihe 
 evening, too. And then one day he asked me if I would go away and stay a day 
 with him, and my mother said, 'Not one minute longer will you stay there. We 
 will go right down and pack up anything you have there.' .... That man was 
 sent to prision for .... a little while later." 
 
 41 
 
Parent: "I do not think the girls who leave the eighth grade are ready to 
 go into offices. I do not think any girl is ready to go into one until she is eighteen 
 years old, unless there are other girls working there. It isn't that you think 
 evil of everyone, but it does mean that you are on the safe side." 
 
 Parent, speaking of messenger work for young boys: "I never knew until 
 some mother told me what her boy had been seeing and hearing at that work 
 what my boy must have been going through. I tell you we ought to know such 
 things; but how are we going to know it? I went to every position that he had 
 after that and I went often to see what he was doing. ' ' 
 
 "I had never taken any course because I didn't know what to take. I had 
 often wondered why there wasn't some place where young people could go for 
 advice, not just an Employment Bureau where they give out work. ' ; 
 
 Special delivery: "I have wasted a lot of time. When I started in I 
 thought it was a fine job, because I only had to work from eight o 'clock in the 
 morning to three in the afternoon. I have begun to realize lately that it would 
 have been better to start in as some of my friends did who had to go to work 
 at seven o'clock in the morning. They have good positions now and I have out- 
 grown my job." 
 
 Errand girl, now an usher: "I started in as an errand girl, and I really 
 thought when I started in I would learn something; but I really never learned 
 anything but the streets of the town." 
 
 Delivery girl for a dressmaking establishment : ' ' The delivery was really 
 too hard for me. It is too hard for any girl. There are such large packages and 
 you have to be on the go every minute." 
 
 Salesman: "My work is so interesting I never look forward to the end of 
 the day or the week. Every day there is something new. I had no idea that 
 there was so much in business when I started. Salesmanship is a fourth pro- 
 fession. You have to learn men so that you can read them as you would a 
 book. I know boys who went to school with me whose only ambition is to hold 
 their jobs. My ambition doesn't stick to holding my job. I want to advance 
 out of it." 
 
 Parent: "I think the factories are better places for the girls to work than 
 the department stores. They pay better wages; and then the girls down town 
 have to pay out all their money on their clothes, they get an idea of dress." 
 
 Parent: "Clerking, which makes the girls stand on their feet all day is too 
 hard on them, and they suffer for it some day. Office work is much better 
 suited to girls." 
 
 Parent: "There is no way that a girl can get ahead in this tangle of in- 
 dustry unless she is strong as an ox or else she has a pull that is just as strong. ' ' 
 
 Parent: "I have encouraged the girls to work near home. They do not get 
 quite so much, but they save their car fare and lunch; and they do not get in 
 with all kinds of girls. There are more girls go wrong from working down 
 town; and I feel that it is one thing leading to another, when they are with a 
 lot of people all day long that you know nothing about and without any 
 supervision. ' ' 
 
 Parent: 'It's only the cheap jobs that you can pick up so easy and throw 
 
 42 
 
Parent who doesn't like to have the boys become chauffeurs: ''It is big 
 pay for little fellows and it spoils them. ' ' 
 
 Father: "Well, I have let them shift for themselves pretty well. We are 
 not people with any influence, and all you can do is to try out a place; and if 
 they don't treat you right, why, leave them." 
 
 Parent: "We wanted him to learn the business and we thought that would 
 be a good place to learn it. We made him stay there, too, because you can't tell 
 always when a boy complains whether he is judging the place right or not. But 
 we are sorry now, for they did not treat him white. " 
 
 Some expressions of foreign born parents. 
 
 "A girl has to work only a few years anyway; and so it does not make so 
 much difference what she does, of course. But it is nice if she can get a good 
 place and make good money." 
 
 "He worked at whatever he could make most money at." 
 
 "Sure, he likes his work. They're good to him, why shouldn't he?" (This 
 mother made the boy stop school when he was very anxious to continue.) 
 
 "Would like the boy to have easy work in an office, but he hasn't enough 
 education for it." 
 
 "I wasn't satisfied to have him working with a whole bunch of boys in them 
 factories. ' ' 
 
 "What I say, I say with sadness, too. My children make me feel so sad 
 sometimes; they will not stay with the one place. They go one place six months 
 and then five months and that way. They have not learned the lesson, my husband 
 says, of staying in the place long. And we are born in the one country and the 
 children in the other. When you are not brought up in the same country, you 
 do not know, you can not say what to do. You can not say to the boys, 'No, 
 you can not go to Portland or to Los Angeles ', when he says, ' Mamma, I get a good 
 job out west with lots of money." 
 
 WAGES. 
 
 The average wage for the groups is given below: 
 
 Boys. Starting In 1912 Gain 
 
 Non-Graduate _. $5.59 $12.95 $7.36 
 
 Graduate 5.29 14.91 9.63 
 
 High School 6.80 16.02 9.22 
 
 Girls. 
 
 Non-Graduate $4.17 $7.73 $3.56 
 
 Graduates 4.23 9.84 5.61 
 
 High School 5.52 9.12 3.60 
 
 The large wage attributed to non-graduates upon starting rep- 
 resents low grade, highly paid work; such as teamsters, water car- 
 riers, etc. This is still high in 1912, when many of these boys re- 
 tain the idea that they must get the highest paid work, usually a 
 matter of necessity. 
 
 The large wage of the graduate group of girls represents some 
 unusual ability ; such as music teacher, dancing teacher, actor, etc. 
 
 43 
 
INCREASE IN WAGES FOR ALL GROUPS. 
 
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 The graduate girls group contains more girls who took business 
 courses, and these girls have raised their wages very materially. 
 
 44 
 
IDLE TIME. 
 
 TIME IDLE IN WEEKS FOR BOYS. 
 
 Average 
 
 Boys Wks. idle time idle No. idle Pet. idle 
 
 Non-Graduate ,. 105 930 8.9 wks. 53 50.4 
 
 Graduate 42 302 7.2 wks. 14 33.3 
 
 High School 73 168 2.0 wks. 11 15.0 
 
 Total 220 1,400 6.0 wks. 78 35.5 
 
 In the high school group one boy was idle for over a year. Many 
 of these boys have never lost a day's work. Some have never had 
 a vacation ; and there are many who have changed work often, and 
 pride themselves on the fact that they have left one shop in the 
 evening and were at work in another the next morning. 
 
 Idleness among the high school boys is almost negligible. Most 
 of them secured positions which are of permanent interest to them 
 and are a constant stimulant to growth because of the possible pro- 
 motions. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 DEPARTMENT STORE WORK. 
 
 Girls. Number: 52, or 15.6% of all girls were in this work at some time. 
 
 Lowest wage at starting Highest wage at starting 
 
 Cash $2.50 $4.00 
 
 Bundle Girls 2.50 4.00 
 
 Stock 3.00 4.00 
 
 Salesclerk _ 3.00 6.00 (only 1) 
 
 The highest wage paid to any in this whole group in 1912 was $9.00; of 
 these there were two. One was a cashier, and the other a milliner. 
 
 
 
 There were 3 receiving $8.00 
 
 There were 5 receiving 7.00 
 
 There were 11 receiving 6.00 
 
 Two receiving $6.00 had been- with their firms 4 years; and one receiving 
 $6.00 had been with her firm 5 years. These were holding responsible positions. 
 The average length of time at work in this occupation for the whole group 
 was 20.4 months. Age seemed to make no difference with the girls and their 
 wages here. 
 
 Boys. Number: 23, or 6.9% of all boys. 
 
 Lowest wage at starting $ 3.00 
 
 Highest wage paid in 1912 - 18.00 
 
 45 
 
Several were receiving $12.00, and each of these had spent three years with 
 his firm. When the boys did not receive a satisfactory wage, or did not feel 
 that there was "a chance" to advance, they were not slow in leaving. 
 
 The average length of time for the group in this work was 15.4 
 months. 
 
 Fourteen year old children, both boys and girls, comprise a large per cent of 
 those who sought department store work. 
 
 The median wage for girls in all kinds of work falls at $8.00 in 1912; but 
 there were only three receiving this in department stores. 
 
 OFFICE WORK. 
 
 Girls. Number: 55, or 16.5% of whole number who tried it at some time. 
 
 Stenographers 25 
 
 Bookkeepers - - _ _ _ 6 
 
 Wholesale clerical work _ ... _ _ 1 
 
 "Other," including persons "addressing envelopes," "copy- 
 ing," "recording," "filing," checking" ..23 
 
 Those in Stenography all took business college courses. In many cases these 
 girls have very good positions and have not reached their maximum wage by 
 a long way. 
 
 Lowest wage at starting in this work $ 5.00 
 
 Lowest wage in 1912 in this work 7.00 
 
 Highest wage reached in 1912 _ _ _ 16.75 
 
 A common wage reached in 1912 in this work 10.00-$12.00 
 
 Graduates and High School are almost in even numbers in this group. 
 
 The "Clerical Office Other" represents a lower wage and work which re- 
 quires no previous training in office work. 
 
 Lowest wage at starting in this work $ 3.50 
 
 Lowest wage in 1912 in this work - 6.50 
 
 Highest wage reached in this work 12.50 
 
 A common wage - - - 8.00 
 
 Average wage at starting - ~ 5.78 
 
 Average wage in 1912 ..., _. 9.30 
 
 Boys. Number: 48; or 14.4% of whole number, were in this work at some 
 time. 
 
 The positions represented here are: 
 
 Stenography 2 
 
 Bookkeepers 6 
 
 Bank clerks - 5 
 
 46 
 
Broker clerks _ 2 
 
 Railroad clerks 7 
 
 Wholesale office work 13 
 
 Other, clerical 13 
 
 Number taking business courses here was 15, or 31.3% of group. 
 
 Lowest wage at starting _.$ 3.50 
 
 (This boy now makes $16.25 a week.) 
 
 Average wage at starting _ 7.21 
 
 Average wage in 1912 12.75 
 
 WHOLESALE HOUSES. 
 
 Number: 58; or 17.4% of whole number. 
 
 Girls ~ 11 3.3% 
 
 Boys 47 14.1% 
 
 Wages Boys. Girls. 
 
 Lowest $ 5.00 $ 3.00 
 
 Highest . 18.75 18.75 
 
 Average wage 
 
 Starting - -~- -* 7.07 $ 7.48 
 
 In 1912 11.01 10.11 
 
 The girls in wholesale office work show a much better average than in any 
 other occupation. Most of these, however, represent girls who have taken busi- 
 ness college courses. 
 
 The average time spent here was 24 months for the boys; 19 months for the 
 girls, and a much better advancement is shown for the time spent in it. 
 
 Out of all the boys who entered here as errand boys, and many fourteen- 
 year-old boys did so, none left without having been advanced to some higher 
 position. 
 
 The highest position in the group, however, were not filled by those who 
 started in as errand boys. 
 
 TELEPHONE WORK. 
 
 Number. 16, or 4."8%. 
 
 Lowest wage at starting 
 
 Highest wage in 1912 ... 
 
 Average time here was 19.4 months. 
 
 47 
 
FACTORY WORK. 
 
 Number: 89; or 25% of the whole number. 
 
 Boys 
 
 
 
 59 
 Girls 
 $6.69 
 9.35 
 19 
 28 
 z!2 
 
 Average wage at starting 
 
 
 Boys 
 
 $5 05 
 
 Average wage in 1912 
 
 
 7 43 
 
 Average length of time in this work 
 Number different industries entered ... 
 Largest number who worked in any 01 
 
 ( months ) 
 
 26 
 14 
 
 le industry 
 
 *9 
 
 * Knitting Works, x Sash and Door Manufacturing. 
 
 TYPICAL WORKING RECORDS. 
 GIRLS. 
 
 (1) Non-Graduate 16 years old. 5A. 
 
 This girl had to leave school. The mother was keeping the children in school 
 through her earnings as a laundress. There was one younger daughter in gchool 
 when this one left. They liked school very much. The mother had never had 
 much education and the father less. 
 
 LAUNDRY WORK. 
 
 Employment How secured 
 
 Time Reason for leaving 
 
 Wages per 
 
 week 
 $4.50 to Running, shaking, Friend 2 yrs., 3 mos. "Better place. " 
 
 mangling 
 
 (Hotel) mangling Friend 9 mos. "Tried to get near 
 
 home." 
 
 6.00 
 7.00 
 
 6.50 
 
 7.00 
 
 Too hard there. 
 
 Mangling & mark- Applied 11 mos. 
 ing. (Same place 
 as first.) 
 
 Sorting, starching, Applied 1 yr., 2 mos. "Best place of its 
 marking. (Hotel) kind." 
 
 (2) Non-Graduate 16 years old. 7B. 
 
 The following is one of the more successful girls in Department store work, 
 having reached next to the highest, wage found in that group. She was the only 
 girl in a family with three older brothers. Two of these boys had serious ill- 
 nesses, and the daughter decided that she must go to work, although her ambition 
 had been to go through High School and Normal School in order to become a, 
 teacher. 
 
 $3-$3.50 Cash girl Applied 2 mos. 
 
 4-4.50 Stock girl 
 $5.00 Head stock 1 yr. 
 
 6.00 Book-keeper 
 
 7.00 
 
 8.00 "Left to get married." 
 
 48 
 
(She was there five years and never missed a day. She asked for all raises 
 after $4.00, and was never refused one.) 
 
 (3) Graduate 14 years. 
 
 This girl was barely fourteen when she finished the grade school. Her father 
 and mother were both living. She was one of four children, there being three 
 older brothers. The father and mother were foreign born. 
 
 $2.50 Check girl Applied 6 mos. 
 3.50 Cashier's helper 8 mos. 
 4.50 Helper in auditing department 
 5.00 Helper in charge department 8 mos. 
 6.00 Mail order department 1 yr. 
 (In all five years.) 
 
 (4) Graduate 16 years old. 
 
 This is a girl with American born parents who was urged to go on to High 
 School. Friends got her to go to a business college. At graduation they se- 
 cured her first position. 
 
 $6.00 Stenographic work Friends 5 mos. "Broke up in Business.'' 
 
 6.00 Stenographic work Through college 
 8.00 Stenographic work 3 yrs. 2 mos. 
 
 ' ' Have not had to ask for any of my raises and am expecting another soon. ' ' 
 
 (5) High School 14 years old. 
 
 An unusual girl, who left school because her father's small wages could not 
 support his large family. She is married now, but is still working. She uses 
 good English, and has very high ideals. She wanted to take a business course, 
 but has not had enough money to do it. Now she is getting ready to open hair- 
 dressing parlors. 
 
 $3.00 Errands (dressmaker) " Ad" "Didn't like it." 
 
 3.00 Office work Friend 2 yrs. 3 mos. 
 7.00 Dusting Friend iy 2 mos. 
 5.00 Ushering Applied 9 mos. 
 
 (6) High School 16 years old. 
 
 A very unusual girl, earning the highest amount paid to any girl in the 
 group. Her family are very well educated people, but had reverses; and the 
 girl felt in duty bound to go to work. Se has had many offers of other positions, 
 but has felt that there was "opportunity right here" ami has stayed with the 
 same firm for four years and half. She took a business course for six weeks 
 previous to taking this position. 
 
 $7.50 Wholesale Family friend of manager 
 
 Office girl 
 
 Filing 
 
 Stenographic and filing work 
 
 Assistant in credit department 
 18.75 In charge of Credit Department 
 
 49 
 
BOYS. 
 
 (7) Non-Graduate 14 years old. 5B. 
 
 Mother a widow and the boy had to go to work. There were in the family four 
 children, two older and one younger. 
 
 $5,00 Furniture factory Applied 2 mos. "They paid by the month, 
 
 and I wanted to get my 
 pay every week." 
 
 $5-$7.50 Box factory Applied 1 yr. "They started paying by 
 
 the month, so I quit." 
 
 5.00 Shoe factory Applied 2 wks. "Didn't like the foreman; 
 
 too bull-headed." 
 
 7.50 Box factory Applied 3 mos. "Wanted to draw all his 
 
 pay at Christmas time. 
 They kept back two weeks 
 so he left." 
 
 9.00 Furniture factory Applied 3 mos. "Wanted him to stay late 
 
 . one night. Would not 
 work over time. 
 
 10.50 Lumber Co. (teamster) Applied 2 yrs. "Thought I'd get an easier 
 13.00 8 mos. job." 
 
 12.00 Teamster, wholesale Applied 2 mos. "Hours were too hard. I 
 fruit' & produce. had to leave the barn at 
 
 5 A. M." 
 13.00 Teamster, Lumber Co. Applied 2 mos. 
 
 (8) Non-Graduate 14 years old. 6B. 
 
 Parents and child were foreign born (Eussian.) Mother was widow at this 
 time. This boy, the oldest of seven children, had to leave school to go to work. 
 Mother has since died and the boy has now become the sole support of the family. 
 
 $6.00 Tub and pail factory Applied 6 mos. "Didn't like the work; 
 
 nothing interesting in it." 
 
 5.00 Carpet and rug cleaning Friend 2 yrs. ' ' Foreman got me mad. ' ' 
 (Piece work) 10 mos. 
 
 7.50 & Railroad (helper in Friend 10 days. "It was too hot there." 
 board kitchen.) 
 
 7.00 Driver U. S. Mail Wagon Friend 8 mos. "There wasn't enough in 
 
 it." 
 
 7-12 Carpet and rug cleaning Applied 1 wk. "Foreman got me mad 
 (same.) again." 
 
 10.50 Tub and pail factory Applied 1 mo. ' ' Couldn 't stand smell of 
 
 paint. ' ' 
 
 12.50 Oiling, E. E. roundhouse Applied 1 mo. 
 (Wants to become a railroad fireman.) 
 
 50 
 
(9) Non-Graduate 16 years old. 8B. 
 
 Parents were foreign born (Swedish), and both are living. Boy left school 
 because he failed to pass. The father was sorry to have him leave school and 
 tried to persuade him to remain. 
 
 $6.00 Garment factory Friend 2 wks. 
 
 "Dissatisfied with 
 work." 
 
 the 
 
 6.50 Wholesale Paper Co. Friend 3 yrs. Left to learn a trade as he 
 
 12.50 Stock boy to Asst. shipping 2 mos. " thought it handy to have 
 
 clerk. a trade to fall back upon 
 
 when you haven't a good 
 education. " 
 
 12.00 Electric Supplies & Friend 2 yrs. 
 19.20 Contractor 4 mos. 
 
 (Electrician's Helper. Intends to take a journeyman's examination soon.) 
 
 (10) Non-Graduate 16 years old. 6B. 
 
 Boy's father died when he was small. He was not happy in school and was 
 sent to the Truant School. He really enjoyed his work there for the first time. 
 He is now out of work. 
 
 $5.00 Messenger "Ad " 1 yr. 
 12.00 
 
 8.00 Bemis Bag Friend 6 mos. 
 Press feeder. 
 
 8.00 or 9.00 Messenger Applied 8 mos. 
 
 10.00 Auto Co. Friend 4 mos. 
 Errands & Cleaning autos. 
 (Time lost several months.) 
 
 2 mos. 
 
 Scrapped and left. ' ' 
 
 Didn't like it. 
 
 was sort of filling in 
 time anyway." 
 
 "Got sick." 
 
 10.00 Pool room. Selling "Hung 1 yr. 6 mos. "Dull times and got laid 
 cues & cigars. around." 
 
 15.00 Hotel elevator Friend 1 yr. 2 mos. 
 
 boy. 
 (Has been in hospital for several weeks.) 
 
 off." 
 "Sick. 
 
 (11) Graduate 14 years old. 
 
 This boy was the son of a widow; but the mother had intended to keep the 
 boy in High School. He tried to get work in the summer vacation, but did not 
 get any. He had joined an Agency, and the day school started, the Agency sent 
 word to him that they had "found a fine job for him." He decided to try it, and 
 
 51 
 
has been there ever since. He is very ambitious and is looking forward to better 
 positions all the time. 
 
 $3.00 Life Insurance Agency 
 
 Errand boy 2 mos. 
 
 Assistant filing clerk 4 mos. 
 
 Filing clerk 2 yrs. 
 
 Information desk iy 2 yrs. 
 
 15.00 Auditing 3 mos. (Given choice of auditing 
 
 or policy department.) 
 Note: Could not do arithmetic in school. 
 
 (12) Graduate 15 years old. 
 
 This boy is the oldest of six children. The family are Americans and very 
 ambitious for their children. The father was earning a small wage, and the 
 mother was sewing. They finally felt that the boy would have to stop school, but 
 they have done everything they could since then to complete his education. 
 
 $4-$10 Publishers, errands "Ad" 1% yrs. "Discharged." "Would 
 drove wagon, etc. have kept me if I had 
 
 worked for less pay. Told 
 him I was looking for 
 more, not less." 
 
 $5-15 Publishers helper Applied 2 mos. "Discharged all the union 
 
 men." 
 
 9.50 Newspaper work ' ' Old boss 6 mos. ' ' Discontinued night shift. ' ' 
 
 night shift. sent for 
 
 (Out of town.) me. 
 
 19.00 25.00 Publishers Applied 2 mos. ' ' Wanted to leave town. ' ' 
 
 linotyper. 
 
 20.00 Newspaper-linotype Applied 1 yr. 4 mos. ' ' Got homesick. ' ' 
 
 21.00 Newspaper. Sub Applied 7 mos. 
 linotyper. 
 
 (Does not intend to stay at this work always. He has done a full High 
 School course through extension work and is now studying law.) 
 
 (13) High School 15 years old. 
 
 This boy is the son of American born parents who helped the boy decide. 
 
 $25 mo. Bank messenger Through father 6 mos. 
 Collection Department 
 Mail Department 
 Statement clerk 
 
 52 
 
$50 mo. Book-keeper Time altogether 4 yrs. 1 mo. 
 
 (Was promised that he would have a good opportunity in the bank if he 
 wanted it, because of his reliability.) 
 
 (14) High School 15 years old. 
 
 Mother dead. Family would have been glad to have the boys remain in school 
 as long as they would. Parents well educated. Boy was not satisfied in school, 
 however. All that he really cared for was English. 
 
 $6.00 M'pVs. Newspaper Applied 1 yr. 
 "Holding copy." 
 
 65-100 Dramatic School 1 yr. 
 
 studying. 
 
 (Always had a taste for drama.) 
 Actor Through circuit 2 yrs. 
 
 25.00 mo. Messenger Bank Friend 
 
 Thought it would not be 
 long until I had the busi- 
 ness well in hand. Soon 
 realized this was all fu- 
 tile, not enough educa- 
 tion." 
 
 Found that I must get 
 something to do that had 
 more certainty in it." 
 
 (15) High School 16 years old. 
 
 A 'hand-minded' boy. His parents were very much disappointed when they 
 found that he was skipping school. He started in on a course that he was ad- 
 vised to take, and it proved that it was the wrong one. His mother said, ' ' I think 
 if he could ever have had a chance down there in the manual work room he would 
 be absolutely happy. We couldn't get him to go back." 
 
 $7.00 Tire Co. "Ad" 1 yr. "Thought he would find 
 
 Helper better place." 
 
 8.00 Kubber Co. Applied 3 mos. ' ' Offered place with friend. ' ' 
 
 Repairer 
 
 8.00 Rubber Tire Knew Manager 3 mos. 
 Farming. Family friend 2 mos. 
 * ' Helping hand. ' ' 
 (Telegraphy school for 4 mos.) 
 
 10.00 Telegraph operator Applied 4 mos. 
 10.00 Telegraph operator Applied 4 mos. 
 
 8.00 Electric Equipment Applied 3 mos. 
 Co. Order clerk. 
 
 8.00 Auto Co. Tire changer 1 wk. 
 
 changer. 
 
 9-15 Tire Co. Stock & Applied 2 yrs. 2 mos. 
 shipping clerk. 
 
 Wanted to go to Dakota." 
 "Couldn't stand it." 
 
 "Color blind." 
 "Color blind." 
 "Better place." 
 
 Offered better place. 
 
 Old firm.' 
 
 53 
 
(16) High School 16 years old. 
 
 American family. Father died when the boy was in High School, and boy 
 was compelled to leave although he "felt terrible" to think of losing his op- 
 portunity for an education. Only child. 
 
 $25 mo. B. E. Office, Ass't. Friend 1 mo. "Business dull." 
 
 rate clerk. 
 
 25 Chamber of Commerce E. E. Office people 
 Answered telephone 7 mos. 
 
 Charge of Wheat Board Several mos. 
 Half time in office, 
 rest in Ass't. Sec'y. office 
 
 65 mo. Office work in Ass't. Sec'y. office. 
 
 (He took much work in the evening at Y. M. C. A. and business college.) 
 
 Some salient features present themselves in the fourteen-year 
 group which are worthy of note. 
 
 BOYS: 
 
 In promising positions (with further education) 19 
 
 (With no further education) _ 39 
 
 Not in promising position (No further education) 
 
 Total 96 
 
 Positions are considered not promising which are not trades or 
 which offer no future. Of those holding positions of no promise, 
 there were : 
 
 High School boys 2 
 
 Graduate boys 8 
 
 Non-graduate boys 
 
 38 
 In this group of thirty-eight we find, also, that there are : 
 
 Fathers dead - 20 
 
 Fathers disabled 1 
 
 Fathers divorced or deserters 2 
 
 GIRLS: 
 
 Who took further education - 
 
 Who did not take further education -,- 
 
 43 
 54 
 
The story of a large number of the fourteen-year children is 
 well told in the following remark made by a boy. He said, "I al- 
 ways had to take the jobs where I could earn the most money. I 
 don't want to be a common laborer all my life. I would like some 
 easy work in an office where I could learn and work up, but the 
 pay is too small." 
 
 Such children were never able to allow themselves any choice in 
 their work, except in the matter of wage; and then it was neces- 
 sarily "the job where you can make the most money." 
 
 The attitude of the fourteen-year boy is to be contrasted with 
 that of the older boy. The older boys seem to realize their stand 
 still unless they secure more education, and the action of the 
 sixteen-year old boys has been much quicker in the matter of 
 getting further education. The habits which the younger boys 
 acquired duing the years when they were not taken seriously by 
 the industrial world have, without question, had a deteriorating in- 
 fluence upon them. 
 
 Again we resort to the children's own remarks as most ex- 
 pressive of their attitude : 
 
 Concerning messenger work: "I liked that fine, especially the night hours. 
 I liked to go around in the fresh air at night. Then I had all the afternoon to 
 myself after I had slept in the morning, and I liked that." 
 
 Elevator boy : " I have never thought much about the future, and I don 't bother 
 my head much about it now." 
 
 "I would have stayed at it (electrician's helper), but it takes too much 
 studying. You have to study all the time, so I quit." 
 
 A mother said: "When my two boys left high school we felt that they 
 must be employed. We urged them to get easy work while they were young 
 and we had to keep taking them out of work that was too hard for them. It 
 was really too bad. They have been errand boys and delivery boys and have 
 had experiences that most boys do not get until they are twenty-four or twenty- 
 five years old. Their leaving school when they did has been a real drawback to 
 them but we couldn't -keep them in." 
 
 Age and public school education do not seem to have been determining 
 factors in the choice or success of the girls' work. 
 
 Age and public school education seem to have been strong determining 
 factors in the choice and success of the boys' work. The high school sixteen- 
 year old boys reached the highest point as a group and individually. 
 
 55 
 
Discussion of the Survey 
 
 It would seem almost unnecessary to discuss these tables, so 
 very clear and intelligible do they seem ; and for the man who has 
 time for study of them, it certainly would be interesting for him 
 to find his own conclusions. However, for the man whose duties 
 forbid him this pleasure, the Committee has decided to outline 
 briefly the conclusions to which it has come. 
 
 The number of pupils leaving at the different ages included 
 in this survey is : at 
 
 14 years 139 
 
 15 years 82 
 
 16 years 131 
 
 This table alone leaves a very wrong impression. When all 
 the pupils at first included in the survey had been followed up, the 
 number was still too small. To fill up the quota thought necessary 
 to get a good working basis there were added all children of four- 
 teen, no matter from what school, at work on labor permits in 
 1908. This number was 81. After subtracting this, the original 
 number representing the average age of leaving school becomes 
 
 14 years 58 
 
 This agrees pretty well with the condition obtaining in the 
 
 whole city. The great emptying of our school houses is made 
 
 when pupils reach sixteen years of age. Below is given a table 
 showing age distribution for Minneapolis for the years 1904, 1908, 
 and 1912. 
 
 1904 1908 1912 % of 1908 group 
 
 6 years 4835 5007 5165 100% 
 
 7 years .1 4113 4020 4155 80% 
 
 8 years 3997 4023 4332 80.5 
 
 9 years 4111 4045 4097 80.9 
 
 10 years 3996 4218 3996 84.3 
 
 11 years 3813 4115 4097 82.3 
 
 12 years 3925 4238 4109 84.7 
 
 13 years 3601 4183 3975 83.6 
 
 14 years 3137 3819 4031 76.4 
 
 15 years 2271 3051 3248 62.8 
 
 16 years 1428 1812 1984 38.8 
 
 17 years 842 1117 1211 22.3 
 
 18 years 453 562 794 11.2 
 
 19 years 224 263 366 5.2 
 
 20 years 103 97 167 1.9 . 
 
 56 
 
The change from 1904 to 1912 should be noted. In 1904 nearly 
 500 children left school on attaining the age of fourteen: in 1912 
 there is a slight gain at fourteen. But in 1912 the drop at sixteen 
 is very great. This change is due to better compulsory education 
 laws, and a stricter enforcement of them. Most states make four- 
 teen years the age at which children are allowed to enter in- 
 dustry. Minnesota has wisely raised this age to sixteen for all 
 occupations, and our last law allows no exemptions for poverty 
 or any other reason. Before 1912, labor certificates could be 
 granted to children of fourteen, if they had finished the elementary 
 grades, if the necessities of the home were extreme, or if they were 
 physically unfit for the confinement and study of a school room. 
 Possibly the reader will be glad to know how Minneapolis stands 
 in comparison with the general condition all over the United States. 
 The following diagram shows it at a glance. 
 
 /oo 
 
 90 
 
 fo 
 
 7 
 
 U 
 
 \ 
 
 tfo 
 
 /o 
 
 
 
 Solid line Minneapolis. 
 Broken line United States. 
 
 Numbers at left The percentages when the number of six 
 year-old is taken as 100%. 
 
 Next the grades at which children leave school is of importance. 
 The survey shows that the point where the most children drop out 
 is at graduation from the eighth grade, nearly one-fourth of the 
 whole number leaving then. The first year of High School comes 
 next with 82; and then comes the seventh grade with 58. This 
 corresponds exactly with the condition throughout the city. Be- 
 low is a table showing the numbers in each grade of the City 
 Schools in 1904, 1908, and 1912. 
 
 57 
 
1904 
 
 1 st grade _ 963 7 
 
 2nd grade 4975 
 
 3rd grade 4985 
 
 4th grade ...5201 
 
 5th grade 4172 
 
 6th grade 3583 
 
 7th grade _ 2705 
 
 8th grade 2004 
 
 I ....... 
 
 II 
 
 III 
 
 IV 
 
 1477 
 
 905 
 
 701 
 504 
 
 1908 
 8919 
 4723 
 4950 
 5083 
 4819 
 4403 
 3840 
 3072 
 
 1892 
 
 1359 
 
 858 
 
 654 
 
 1912 
 
 7444 
 4887 
 4823 
 5086 
 4808 
 4590 
 4257 
 3730 
 
 2315 
 1554 
 1096 
 1137 
 
 A diagram in which this is graphically represented follows. The 
 medians are obtained by the Strayer method. The solid line in- 
 dicates the condition in Minneapolis in 1912, while the broken 
 line represents the average condition in the 318 cities studied. 
 
 58 
 
This shows that the sharpest drop comes between the eighth 
 grade and the first year of High School ; the next in the seventh 
 grade. The big loss at graduation is due to the fact that the com- 
 pulsory education law up to this present school year allowed the 
 Boards of Education to grant labor permits to the graduates; and 
 to the further fact that many persons of foreign birth believe that 
 their duty to their children in the matter of education ceases with 
 the receipt of a diploma, and that the day has come when children 
 should contribute to the support of the home. This conviction is 
 further established by the fact that about this period most children 
 are confirmed ; and confirmation in the old country is equivalent to 
 commencement in the new life of of industry. 
 
 The mortality in the High School is due to two principal causes. 
 First, as already shown by the comments on the school, the high 
 schools have been a disappointment to many who have anticipated 
 work different from that of the elementary school, work better 
 adapted to the needs of youth about to assume the responsibility 
 of self-supporting manhood. This will be discussed later on. 
 Second, during the first year of the high school, most pupils reach 
 the age of sixteen, and are entirely free from the control of the 
 school authorities. 
 
 A third cause active on pupils in any grade is lack of success. 
 Trailing behind a class from one to five years is not calculated to 
 arouse enthusiasm for the race. Failure opens the way to dis- 
 couragement, which is followed by giving up the job. Of the 352 
 cases studied, 60.5% of the boys and 53% of the girls were behind 
 their classes from one to five years. (See Table V) In 1908 an 
 age-grade census was taken in this city. It was not complete, 
 but covered about two-thirds of all pupils. In Bulletin No. 5, 1911, 
 issued by the U. S. Bureau of Education, the results are given. 
 There were 33,738 pupils reported; 19,520 were normal and 13,721 
 behind their classes from one to five years. 387 were under normal 
 age. Reduced to a percentage basis, 44% of boys were over age, 
 and 37.9% of girls were retarded. These figures show that in 
 the group studied there were 16.5% more retarded boys than the 
 average for the city, and 15% more of girls. On account of retarda- 
 tion, no doubt many young boys and girls yield the battle, and 
 get out of school, where they have failed, and into work, where, 
 fortunately, many have succeeded. 
 
 Using the numbers given by Strayer, it is possible to compute 
 the average time for a pupil to cover the eight grades. For Min- 
 neapolis it is 8.65 years. Ayres thinks the average for all cities is 
 9.34 years ; the Report of City Club of Chicago asserts the belief 
 that it is above ten years for the city. Here is a waste in Minne- 
 apolis of 65 hundredths of a year on every eight years, or a little 
 over eight per cent. Ayres, in "Laggards in Our Schools," makes 
 a correction of .8 per cent for the difference between the average 
 age of beginning pupils and the age of pupils in the first grade. 
 If this should be added, the waste is increased to 1.45 years, or 
 18 per cent over-time for the completion of the work. In the 
 
 59 
 
same volume he states that retardation in Minneapolis is 18.9%, 
 and in 1908 cost Minneapolis $258.647. This seems too high ; but 
 at the lowest it is $150,000 a year. Such a bagatelle is worth look- 
 ing after; and it would seem wise to make a very careful census 
 by grades and ages to discover the place where the loss occurs ; and 
 then to make a critical study of the curriculum to get rid of the 
 causes of retardation in so far as they can be removed. 
 
 Now if a study be made of the reasons for leaving, we shall 
 find them to fall into three classes : sickness, financial reasons, and 
 dissatisfaction. Sickness is reason enough ; but it is unfortunate 
 for the child and for the state that any child should be compelled 
 to leave for any reason whatsoever before the completion of his 
 elementary education. For the child it is a misfortune, because 
 less than this is but fractional. All systems contemplate a course 
 through the eight years as their smallest unit; subjects like United 
 States history, government, and grammar are not included until 
 the seventh and eighth grades, and the more practical applications 
 of arithmetic, like interest, insurance, and commission cannot be 
 taken earlier. Moreover, after tests had been given by the Com- 
 mittee making a survey in Chicago, they concluded that after a 
 few years at work a sixth grade pupil forgot nearly everything 
 he had learned, while an eighth grade pupil made a'much better 
 showing. (See Report by the City Club, p. 272 et seq.) To quote 
 a few sentences: "Two main points stood out clearly in the 
 arithmetic test : First. The boys of the eighth grade were superior 
 to the sixth, in a test which should have been worked by all. 
 Second. The boys who were in what might be termed a con- 
 tinuation school were ahead of the boys of the corresponding 
 grades who were out of school." Again ; "As between the grades, 
 the results (of the English test) show the same condition that 
 obtains in arithmetic. . . . This is also true of spelling and writ- 
 ing." Again; "Taking up the matter from the standpoint of the 
 grades, it may be said that the eighth grade boy has enough knowl- 
 edge of Civil Government so that the most important points of 
 the subject will probably clear up in his mind as he gets a little 
 older and reads the newspapers more. The same thing can be 
 said for a very few of the seventh grade boys. The information 
 of the sixth and fifth grade boys is so meager along the lines of 
 civil government and history, that it seems doubtful whether they 
 will ever have an understanding of what democratic government 
 is." To get all the subjects needed for entrance upon life, and 
 much more, to grip them so firmly that they will not slip away 
 requires a complete elementary course. Anything less is a mis- 
 fortune for any boy or girl. Then if we believe that the govern- 
 ment of this nation shall be just as intelligent as the people, we 
 shall not be proud of less than elementary education. 
 
 Of those who left school for financial reasons, forty do not 
 affirm that it was necessary, they just wanted to earn, and 125 
 assert that they had to leave. A very few (19) of those who 
 alleged dissatisfaction with the school as the reason for leaving 
 were in homes receiving an income so low that it would seem more 
 
 60 
 
truthful to say that real need was probably the true reason. Take 
 this number from the 170 who were dissatisfied, and we have 151, 
 for whom dissatisfaction seems the real cause of leaving school. 
 Now was the need of money the real reason why the 125 left school? 
 A study of Table VII will reveal that necessity had little to do 
 with at least fifty of the 125, for the incomes in these homes aver- 
 age from $75 to $200 a month. If $60 a month is adequate to 
 keep a family and send children to school, the 65 of the group 
 could have remained; and if, as some say, $50 will do this, then 
 76 out of the 125 who thought they had to work could have been 
 supported in school, and only 49 were driven from school by sheer 
 need. Supposing, however, that we retain the first supposition 
 of $75 a month as the living income for a family of six, and this 
 is about the figure set by the Department of Labor, (See the 
 chapter on "A Living Wage in Minneapolis") then 50 do not 
 have to leave, and should be added to the column of those to whom 
 the schools were not attractive. This makes a total in that class 
 of 201, or 60 per cent of all who were well enough to attend 
 school. 
 
 Whether a different type of school would have held them is 
 always problematical. Answers to a direct question on that sub- 
 ject given four years after they left school, would not reflect the 
 true decision. Many boys and girls just get uneasy in school, 
 and wish to try the world, and no type of school will hold them. 
 Still wherever answers have been sought, they have indicated 
 that many would be attracted by a scheme of education that fitted 
 well to the conditions of industry. The Massachusetts Report 
 found that 885 would have stayed in school if they could have 
 learned a trade, while to 800 it would have made no difference. 
 The Report of the City Club of Chicago says (p. 270) that 60.3% 
 of the pupils leaving the high schools of that city drop out because 
 "they see no connection between their high school work and their 
 future vocation." The fact that 60 of the 170 who were dissatis- 
 fied with school afterwards paid for instruction in private institu- 
 tions, and that 56 out of the whole number completed a course in 
 some business college, paying $4200 for the instruction, is positive 
 evidence that the right kind of school would hold them. It would 
 seem to be a conservative statement to affirm that one-half of those 
 leaving our schools before the age of sixteen could be retained 
 if there were some plainly seen value in our educational curricula. 
 It is high time that the city realized the necessity of a vocational 
 motive in education, and modified its courses of study so that they 
 would attract rather than repel a large class of children. And 
 every teacher should cling fast to her confession of faith in the 
 ultimate goodness dwelling in every child, no matter how im- 
 possible he seems, and to her her vow that she will every day 
 lift one child to the light. With a new motive and a new consecra- 
 tion, much of this waste of youth can be stopped. 
 
 Yet not all. There is an irreducible fraction of our school popu- 
 lation that cannot go to school. Certainly the 49 children in 
 families where the income is less than $50 a month must feel the 
 
 61 
 
pinch of poverty. And when one finds in this group 24 children 
 whose mothers are widows, one concludes that widowhood is very 
 often followed by want and privation. The Census Report of 1900 
 states that but 8.6% of women between 35 and 44 years old are 
 widows. It is significant, then, that in the whole survey, 71 chil- 
 dren had no father 20 per cent of the whole number. Of the 125 
 in the "Had to work" group, 51, or 40.8%, were children of widows ; 
 and 24 of this group, or 47%, were living on less than $50 a month. 
 With these facts before them, the Committee voted in favor of 
 some wise legislation to relieve the burden upon many widows. 
 
 The next question is, what kind of schools are needed? A 
 shrewd business man would certainly study the market before 
 he built and equipped his factory. So far as this survey is illumin- 
 ating, it shows plainly that no one industry predominates, and 
 would absorb a large output of any special product of the educa- 
 tional factory. Arranging gainful occupations for the whole popu- 
 lation of this city so that they can be easily compared with the 
 results of the survey, we have the following table in percentages: 
 
 All in gainful 
 
 occupations. Survey Survey 
 
 Census 1900. 1908. 1912. 
 
 Agriculture . _ _ 2.3 .6 .3 
 
 Professional _ 5.6 .3 2.6 
 
 Domestic and Personal (includes laborers) 19.4 8.5 14.8 
 
 Trade and Transportation 36.4 65.3 53. 
 
 Manufacturing and Mechanical Pursuits 36.4 25.3 27.2 
 
 For us but three of the classifications demand consideration. 
 First, the number in domestic and personal service is large. A 
 study of Tables XII and XIII shows that these occupations are 
 such that special preparation is not demanded, unless for those 
 girls who will later go into the home. This preparation is already 
 provided in courses given to all pupils in the grades; and, since 
 last September, to all wishing such work in the High School. That 
 this work will improve in efficiency and gain in popularity is cer- 
 .tain. Second, the largest group is found in trade and transporta- 
 tion ; and some sort of education should be provided for this large 
 number. The High Schools now provide a four-year Commercial 
 Course, and 32 per cent of all High School pupils register for this 
 work. This, however, does not care for the large number who 
 never reach the High School, nor for those who must leave before 
 the completion of such a course. And third, manufacturing and 
 mechanical pursuits absorbed one-fourth of the boys and girls who 
 left school in 1908. Hand work is given in the grades, and manual 
 training ten hours a week in all High Schools to those who wish 
 it. And yet all agree that more should be done. 
 
 Referring now to the survey tables, showing when the pupils 
 left school, and the table showing when large numbers drop out 
 of all our schools, one finds that they agree in this : that the seventh 
 grade does not receive all the 4600 found in the sixth grade. The 
 
 62 
 
age of pupils in the seventh grade is about thirteen or fourteen 
 years, periods of restlessness and great motor activity. Something 
 must be doing if many of these shall be retained. Moreover, when 
 they reach the age of sixteen and the law ceases to hold them, 
 many are going to work, no matter what kind of schools may be 
 provided for their instruction. Considering, then, these two great 
 facts, the period of adolescence and the sixteen-year compulsory 
 education law, it would seem a wise procedure to introduce at the 
 beginning of the seventh grade courses of study that should be 
 practical enough to be attractive to an active fourteen-year old 
 boy, and sensible enough to give him some help when he enters j 
 the industrial world. 
 
 And the table of occupations indicates plainly that two lines 
 are necessary: one for the more than fifty per cent entering the 
 commercial world ; the other for the twenty-five per cent going into 
 factories and trades. These courses should not be longer than four 
 years; and it may be wiser to make them but three years, for at 
 the end of a three years' course, most of the pupils will reach 
 the age of sixteen and are likely to leave school. The high schools 
 must receive these pupils without loss of a grade, if they should 
 decide to take up advanced work, either in a commercial course or 
 a manual training course. 
 
 Moreover, there seems to be no need at present for the trade 
 school in Minneapolis. While in some cities the number of chil- 
 dren leaving school to enter factories rises as high as 40 per cent 
 to 47 per cent (Philadelphia), in Minneapolis it was but 15 per 
 cent, 54 children in all, though 89 tried factory work at some time 
 during the four years. These were so distributed among a large 
 number of different manufactories that no group was large enough 
 to indicate a demand that was at all imperative. Again, no trade 
 seems to dominate here; for boys starting to work, the largest 
 number was four in printing, and for girls twelve in millinery. The 
 number in printing grew to twelve in 1912; but only three girls 
 were milliners after four years. The whole number, sixty-four, 
 were scattered among twenty-eight skilled trades. 
 
 It should be said, however, that the number entering skilled 
 trades in Minneapolis is far larger than in most cities. The Mas- 
 sachusetts Commission, reporting on thousands of children, found 
 about two per cent in all skilled industries, and the Stock Yards 
 Report shows ten per cent in "skilled and high grade occupations." 
 Here we find ten per cent in the trades alone at the very start, and 
 this number rises to eighteen per cent at the end of four years, 
 an excellent showing for the city. 
 
 If trades are to be taught, the present situation points 'to the 
 continuation school, which should have for its aim instruction in the 
 theory of the trade, while the manual skill necessary should be 
 secured "on the job." The cost of teaching trades in schools is 
 enormous, in Milwaukee reaching $300 a year for each person 
 taught. And Rochester has found that only one-sixth of the gradu- 
 ates of their trade schools followed the trades they had learned. 
 
 63 
 
Such waste is unnecessary ; and the opinion is gaining ground that 
 the continuation school idea, so well worked out in Germany, and 
 now being established in Wisconsin, leads in the right direction. 
 By this means the greatest economy can be secured; and nowhere 
 can skill be so well gained as at work with skilled craftsmen on 
 the job. 
 
 There will always be a large number in our High Schools pre- 
 paring for college. For these the present course of study is well 
 suited. This, with the others, makes three well-defined lines to 
 pursue : towards industry, towards business, and towards college. 
 And these are the broad divisions along which school courses 
 should be organized. 
 
 Yet they will never be well organized until these persons who 
 use the school product are called into conference. The colleges 
 and high schools are frequently in consultation, determining what 
 should be done for that part of our pupils which will go into 
 college. But for the larger fraction which enters business or in- 
 dustry, the preparation is guided only by those in the schools, 
 when it should be decided jointly by those who produce and those 
 who must use the product. If Germany has any advantages over 
 America in her educational system, it is due to the fact that thirty 
 years ago she took her industrial education out from the control of 
 the Department of Religion and Education and placed it under the 
 Department of Industry and Commerce. A Commission of men 
 interested in education, educators, business men, manufacturers, 
 contractors, and laboring men, should study this question together, 
 and report their conclusions to the Board of Education. These 
 conclusions might be only the present defects in the work of the 
 schools; but even such a report would be worth much. If to this 
 they should add the needs of business and industry, their findings 
 would have a greatly increased value. 
 
 Moreover such a Commission should serve continuously. Busi- 
 ness methods change so quickly that five years puts any course 
 of study into the junk pile. And in methods of production, the 
 change is kaleidoscopic. Machines do almost everything that fifty 
 years ago was done by hand. The factory population increased 
 forty per cent in the last ten years as against a gain of twenty- 
 one per cent in total population. Such a rapid growth indicates 
 a phenomenal change in the methods of production. The schools 
 must be kept in touch with the living conditions of to-day ; and the 
 only way to accomplish this is through a Commission of the men 
 who are making these new conditions, and know the present needs. 
 
 G4 
 
Business ana Industry. 
 
 On the whole, the Survey has shown a very satisfactory condi- 
 tion among this group at work. There seems to be an opportunity 
 for every one who wants to work ; and the wages, in most cases, are 
 fair. The remarkable record of the whole group in the matter of 
 idleness shows clearly that work can be secured. When 220 boys 
 are idle an average of only eleven days a year, conditions in busi- 
 ness and industry must be excellent. This is only three and a half 
 per cent of the time, while the average in Chicago reaches 37 per 
 cent. Another interesting feature in the table showing idleness is 
 this: idleness decreased as intelligence increased. The non-gradu- 
 ate averaged 13J^ days a year; the graduate averaged 11 days a 
 year; and the high school boy averaged 3^ days a year. Few men 
 do better. 
 
 Closely related to this is the number of places in 'which the 
 group worked. Here again intelligence shows its value. The non- 
 graduate knocked about more than the graduate or high school 
 pupil, one of them holding sixteen different jobs in seven different 
 occupations, The average number of occupations was 2.15 for 
 the high school boy and 3.4 for the non-graduate. The high school 
 boy averaged 3.53 jobs ; the non-graduate 4.75 jobs. Age also made 
 a difference, the sixteen year old high school boy making the wisest 
 choice of occupations, and finding his opportunity in advancement 
 rather than by change to another place. 
 
 So, too, in the matter of wages, intelligence, measured by ad- 
 vancement in school, is a determining factor among the boys. Un- 
 fortunately it makes too little difference among the girls. The 
 high school boy starts at $1.21 a week better than the non-graduate, 
 and at the end of four years has increased his wages $9.22 a week 
 against the non-graduate's increase of $7.36. This leaves them 
 $3.07 apart in four years ; and it is safe to prophesy that at the 
 age of 25 the difference will be $8.00 to $10.00 a week. The Mas- 
 sachusetts commission reported a difference in the wages of shop- 
 trained boys and those school-trained to be $4.00 at 18 years of 
 age, but $18.25 at 25 years of age. No stronger argument for more 
 education can be placed in our schools than a chart showing these 
 salary increases. At present one thing is lacking in this city; there 
 is no report on high-school graduates. 
 
 For the girls the conditions are not so favorable. A small table 
 will show the reader at a glance the situation. 
 
 65 
 
Non-graduates Graduates High School 
 
 At starting 3.58 3.96 6 
 
 14 years In 4 years _ _ 6.69 9.32 9.33 
 
 Gain 3.J1 5.36 3.33 
 
 At starting 4.90 4.94 5.39 
 
 15 years In 4 years 9.70 11.06 9.24 
 
 Gain -4.80 6.12 3.85 
 
 At starting 3.98 3.75 5.19 
 
 16 years In 4 years - - ~ 6.50 8.95 8.42 
 
 Gain ..._ 2.52 5.20 3.23 
 
 This shows plainly that neither age nor grade, nor both com- 
 bined accomplish much for the advancement of the girls. They 
 seem to stick at about $9.00 a week for high mark. 
 
 Another comparison will help to an understanding of the con- 
 dition. If a line be drawn dividing both boys and girls into two 
 groups: those whose increase in wages has been more than $5.00, 
 and those whose increase has been less than $5.00, these results 
 are secured. Of boys, 47 gained less than $5.00, 21.3% of all boys; 
 of girls, 91 gained less than $5.00, or 69% of all girls. The com- 
 plement of this is : of boys, 183 gained more than $5.00, 79.6% of 
 all the boys; of girls, 41 gained more than $5.00, 31% of all girls. 
 It was because of the very low initial wage, $2.50 $3.50, paid to 
 girls, and the further fact that for many kinds of work advance- 
 ment commensurate with service rendered could not be obtained, 
 that the Committee favored a minimum wage law for girls and 
 women. 
 
 When we compare wages here with those reported by other 
 cities, the results are gratifying. The common wage reported by 
 several cities for boys entering industry at fourteen to sixteen is 
 $4.25 ; and for girls it varies from $3.61 to $4.26. Not many cities 
 have made a study covering four years, so the gain can not be re- 
 ported, except in Massachusetts. They found the average wage 
 of boys at fourteen years to be $4.00, and at eighteen to be $7.00. 
 Now in Minneapolis the average for boys at starting was not far 
 from $6.00, and in four years it is about $14.00, a gain of $8.00 a 
 week. For girls an initial wage of $4.17 for the non- graduate, and 
 $5.52 for the high school girl changed to $7.75 and $9.12 for each 
 class respectively, a gain of about $3.50 a week. All this indicates 
 that the city is a good place to work in. 
 
 66 
 
Vocational Guid 
 
 ance. 
 
 Vocational guidance has three functions to perform- it must 
 u lb rttiie world to which boys and girls must go; it must know 
 the child, his powers, his desires, and his weaknesses; then it must 
 strive to fit the child for the job and the job to the boy. 
 
 In this survey little has been done with the industries, except 
 as reports have been made upon them by the boys and girls at work. 
 It is, however, a very important matter to have a clear picture of 
 a city's opportunities and pitfalls. How can a child of sixteen know 
 what he will find when he goes forth in search of a job? Many 
 easy jobs with good pay at the beginning are really poor jobs, if 
 there is little to learn and the years bring no increase in responsibil- 
 ity or advance in wages. And a hard place may be the very best, 
 if the toil brings increase in skill or knowledge, making service so 
 valuable that high wages must be paid to retain them. That this 
 new world to which youth goes may not be an unknown region, a 
 very careful survey of the business and industries should be made. 
 Reports should be formulated upon the facts gathered, and pub- 
 lished for use in schools and homes for the guidance of youth in 
 the selection of occupations. 
 
 Moreover, this survey should include the physical and moral 
 conditions of each occupation. It is the right of every youth to 
 know whether the sanitation, the hours of labor, and the speed are 
 calculated to throw him into the industrial junk pile at forty; or 
 whether he will still retain his maximum earning power until 
 sixty. And what is even more important, both boys and girls should 
 know the moral hazard of each occupation they consider. In some 
 of them a youth may not gain the whole world, but he is pretty 
 sure to lose his own soul. No father or mother should for an 
 instant consider any occupation in which honor or chastity have 
 been given in exchange for wages. A good salary purchased with 
 a life or a character can recommend no occupation. 
 
 Not only must the industrial world be known, but the child, 
 too, must be understood. His teachers must watch him and find 
 out what he can do and what he likes to do. As it is now, children 
 have to try a number of occupations before they find their place. 
 Some become worthless in the continuous change. With a com- 
 plete record from year to year of all the tendencies of the child, 
 with knowledge of the child gained from his parents in the home, 
 with a careful examination of him to determine any physical weak- 
 ness or defect, or any peculiar physical power, it would surely be 
 possible to give some wise guidance that would at once set him 
 in the way to his surest success. That such facts may be collected 
 and tabulated, the Committee recommends a set of three cards, 
 which shall follow the child and place in the hands of his vocational 
 adviser a fund of information to assist in the choice of his life's 
 work. Then it should be the duty of the school to arrange a child's 
 work in school so that he shall make the most of his powers. Place 
 
 67 
 
 
 
before the fourteen year old boy his future as it has been deter- 
 mined after careful study, then put before him the means of pre- 
 paring for the life, and there is a motive for study and work. Then 
 children will not fly from our schools because they are not worth 
 while; but they will remain, knowing that the expense and time 
 will be repaid many times by increased skill or knowledge and 
 increased pay. 
 
 To do all these things requires labor. Teachers would have 
 to study children as they have never done before. The environment 
 must be known, too ; and that necessitates visits to the home. But 
 schools will be better and teaching will be better when this relation 
 with the home is established. One thing the teachers cannot do ; 
 they cannot make the surveys of the city. The Board of Education 
 must do this ; and when one considers the rapid changes in Minne- 
 apolis, the work must be continuous, else we shall be preparing 
 boys and girls for jobs that have ceased to be, while other occupa- 
 tions will be in need. And the Board of Education should organize 
 a Department * of Vocational Guidance, with experts to advise 
 youths. This Department should include the work done by Mr. 
 Ashworth. By this Department, too, should be kept a complete 
 record of all boys and girls, setting out each change in position 
 and wages, so that these would be a guide for those coming later. 
 Everything should be done to answer the call of industry, and to 
 fit youth for his place in this world. 
 
 SIGNED: 
 
 George H. Elwell 
 Charles Fischer 
 Anna Fox 
 T. W. Gilbert 
 George M. Gillette 
 Frank Hoffman 
 Lydia Herrick, Secretary 
 Stiles P. Jones 
 Lowell E. Jepson 
 Don D. Lescohier 
 W. B. Northrop 
 
 D. H. Painter 
 Anna H. Phelan 
 
 E. V. Robinson 
 George E. Vincent 
 Norman Wilde 
 
 W. F. Webster, Chairman 
 S. Wirt Wiley 
 
 68 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 WAGES AND THE STANDARD OF LIVING IN 
 MINNEAPOLIS. 
 
 Don. D. Lescohier 
 Frank M. Hoffman 
 
 State Labor Bureau. 
 
 69 
 
Next to his chance of a wife and of his moral standards the most 
 important choice that a boy makes is the choice of his vocation. 
 And in many cases his vocation determines both of the others. His 
 vocation directly affects his health; his intelligence and his char- 
 acter; it determines his income, and through his income his stand- 
 ard of life, his and his children's opportunity of culture, their as- 
 sociates, and their prospects of advancement. These facts give 
 vital interest to the question of wage standards in the various in- 
 dustries. 
 
 The wage earners of Minneapolis with their families constitute 
 nearly four-fifths of the city's population. The factory inspection 
 report of the state labor bureau for 1910 showed 70,333 wage 
 earners in the industries of the city, 8300 of whom were employed 
 at office work and 62,032 in manual and mercantile occupation 
 proper. Eighty-six branches of manufactures employed in the 
 manual occupations 24,829 men and boys and 7404 women ; the con- 
 tracting industries, 5762; mercantile employments 8852 men and 
 3643 women ; the public utilities (light, power, transportation, 
 telephone and telegraph industries) 6938 men and 678 women ; and 
 the personal service industries (barber shops, hotels, laundries, 
 etc.) 2170 men and 2756 women. Two hundred and seventy-five 
 of the persons employed in these several branches were below 
 sixteen years of age, 162 boys and 113 girls. Only 21 of the boys 
 and three of the girls were employed at office work, the remainder 
 being at work in the regular occupations of the industry. 
 
 The industrial distribution of the child workers, i. e., the boys 
 and girls between 14 and 16 years of age, is of some interest. It 
 can be most concisely shown in tabular form. 
 
 Boys Girls 
 
 Office work (all industrial) 21 3 
 
 Manufacturing _ _ ~~ 92 32 
 
 Mercantile 40 63 
 
 Personal Service 4 13 
 
 Public Utilities 5 2 
 
 Total ... -...162 113 
 
 The most recent figures on Minneapolis wages, other than union 
 wages, are those given by the Minnesota Bureau of Labor in its 
 twelfth biennial report, published in 1910. Union wages are 
 available for 1912. (See Appendix II) The figures given in the 
 1910 report show that 37% of the male workers of the state em- 
 ployed in manufacturing and mercantile industries are paid less 
 than $12.00 a week; 72.6% less than $15.00; and only 6.5% more 
 than $21.00. It must be borne in mind, of course, that a consider- 
 able proportion of those paid less than $12.00 a week are boys and 
 young men who have not reached their maturity as workmen; 
 
 71 
 
but it is also true that many thousands of these low paid workers 
 are men with families dependent on them. The facts are not much 
 different for Minneapolis than for the state as a whole. Approxi- 
 mately one-half of the wage earners of the state are in the three 
 large cities, while a considerable proportion of the others are in 
 cities such as Brainerd, Red Wing, and Winona where trade 
 unions have almost, if not quite, as great an influence on wages as 
 in the large cities. Wages would be slightly higher in the general 
 industries of Minneapolis than in the state, but the difference would 
 not be large. In both cases it would be true that between two- 
 thirds and three-fourths of the adult males with families to support 
 earn from $10.00 to $15.00 a week. 
 
 With respect to women's wages the same report shows the 
 following facts for the women workers of the state : 
 
 Group Cumulative 
 
 Pet. Pet. 
 
 Less than $5.00 10% 
 
 $ 5.00 but less than $ 6.00 19 Below $ 6.00 a week 29% 
 
 $ 6.00 but less than $ 7.00 18 Below $ 7.00 a week 47 
 
 $ 7.00 but less than $ 8.00 _._ 13 Below $ 8.00 a week 60 
 
 $ 8.00 but less than $ 9.00 _ 10 Below $ 9.00 a week 70 
 
 $ 9.00 but less than $10.00 18 Below $10.00 a week 88 
 
 $10.00 and more 12 $10.00 and over 100 
 
 A detailed presentation of the earnings of the 70,000 wage 
 earners of Minneapolis is not required for the purposes of this 
 report and we shall attempt no more than to indicate the wage 
 rates prevalent in some of the leading industries and occupations. 
 Wherever possible we shall use data compiled from Minneapolis 
 industries, but in a few cases where Minneapolis data is scanty we 
 will use the figures compiled for the entire state. As we have said 
 previously, these do not vary materially from the facts for Minne- 
 apolis. 
 
 The largest industry in the city in point of number of persons 
 employed is the woodworking industry, which employs about 8,000 
 persons. It is not an industry of high wages, though some branches 
 of the industry make a much better showing than others. Ap- 
 proximately 52% of the males at work in sawmills and wood- 
 working factories earn less than $12.00 a week ; 25 per cent, between 
 $12.00 and $15.00; 13 per cent, between $15.00 and $18.00; 7 per cent, 
 between $18.00 and $20.00 ; and 3 per cent, $20.00 or more. A large 
 proportion of those paid below $12.00 a week are young men with- 
 out families dependent on them and the reader is warned against 
 the common fallacy of reasoning as if they were all men with 
 families dependent upon them. Nevertheless, many are such men. 
 More significant, however, than the large percentage paid below 
 
 NOTE: We have in our possession a separate tabulation of Minneapolis 
 wages which will conclusively support this statement. 
 
 72 
 
$12.00 a week, is the fact that fully one-half of all the workers in 
 the industry are paid from $10.00 to $16.00, which indicates that 
 the large group of young men working in their youth for less than 
 $12.00 a week, have little prospect of appreciably higher earnings 
 when they reach their maturity. 
 
 The facts vary somewhat for the various branches of the wood 
 industries, and are shown by the following summary: 
 
 PERCENTAGE OF MALES 
 
 From From From $20 and 
 
 Below $12 $12 to $15 $15 to $18 $18 to $20 over 
 
 1. General Woodworking 23% 25% 13% 7% 2% 
 
 2. Wagon and Sleigh 52% 26% 11% 9% 2% 
 
 3. Box Manufacturing 47% 37% 9% 3% 4% 
 
 4. Saw Mills _ _ 37% 44% 10% 4% 5% 
 
 5. Furniture Mfg 28% 29% 29% 8% 6% 
 
 6. Sash and Door _ _.. 20% 31% 32% 11% 6% 
 
 More than one-half (53%) of the girls and women employed in 
 wood working factories were earning $6.00 but less than $7.00; 
 18.5%, $7.00 but less than $8.00; and 5.50%, $8.00 but less than 
 $9.00. Practically none were paid less than $6.00, and 23% earned 
 $9.00 or more. 
 
 The foundries, machine shops and metal working industries form 
 another important group of manufacturing employments. Over 
 5,000 men (5223) were reported by these industries in 1910. The 
 distribution by wage groups was as follows: 
 
 Foundries and Sheet 
 Machine Shops Metal Trades 
 
 Below $9.00 a week 5% 9% 
 
 $ 9.00 but less than $12 24% 10% 
 
 $12.00 but less than $15 32% 26% 
 
 $15.00 but less than $18 14% 12% 
 
 $18.00 but less than $21 16% 21% 
 
 $21.00 and over _.. 9% 22% 
 
 The iron industries therefore present a more hopeful outlook 
 to the young man than do the wood industries. Earnings above 
 $15.00 a week are obtained by nearly half of the men in the industry 
 and earnings above $18.00 by fully a third. 
 
 Flour milling, the industry for which Minneapolis is most wide- 
 ly known, employed, in 1910, 2726 persons, of whom approximately 
 
 NOTE: Wherever such an expression as " between $12.00 and $15.00 " is 
 used, it really means ''from $12.00 to $14.99, inclusive." In other words, it 
 means "up to, but not including" the larger figure. 
 
 73 
 
200 were women. Wages in the mills commonly range from $9.00 
 to $20.00 a week. Only about 3 per cent of the entire force earn 
 $21.00 a week or over. About a fifth of the total force (19.5%) 
 are paid less than $12.00 a week; half of them, from $12.00 to 
 $15.00; another fifth (18.5%), from $15.00 to $18.00; and about 
 10 per cent, from $18.00 to $21.00. 
 
 The 143 women reported by the industry were largely office 
 employes, and their average wage is therefore high. Only 5 per 
 cent are paid less than $6.00 and 14 per cent, between $6.00 and 
 $7.00 a week. Twenty-eight per cent are paid between $7.00 and 
 $10.00, and 53 per cent, $10.00 or over. 
 
 The other food manufactures employed in all about 2800 per- 
 sons ; of whom 754 were in bakeries ; 534, in confectionery manu- 
 facturies; 365, in creameries and ice cream factories; and 1155, in 
 miscellaneous food manufactures. The wage distribution in the 
 various groups was as follows : 
 
 MALES PERCENT EARNING. 
 
 $20 and 
 Below $12 $12-$15. $15-$18 $18-$20 over 
 
 Bakeries - 12% 22% 38% 14% 14% 
 
 Confections and crackers 59% 22% 15% 4% 
 
 Creameries 36% 27% 12% 15% 10% 
 
 Misc. Food Mfg 46% 33% 9% 7% 5% 
 
 FEMALES PERCENT EARNING. 
 
 $9 and 
 
 Below $5 $5-$6 $6-$7 $7-$8 $8-$9 over 
 
 Bakeries 23% 14% 8% 
 
 Conf. & Crack 44% 9% 12% 26% .. 9% 
 
 Creameries _ 23% 62% 15% 
 
 Misc. Food. Mfg. 28% 11% 25% 10% 9% 17% 
 
 The facts for a few other leading industries may be summarized 
 as follows : 
 
 MALE EMPLOYES. 
 
 $20 and 
 
 Below $12 $12-$15 $15-$18 $18-$20 over 
 
 Printing and Publishing 24% 19% 10% 17% 30% 
 
 Boots, Shoes and Leather 
 
 Products 23% 28% 18% 9% 22% 
 
 Telephone 28% 18% 33% 11% 10% 
 
 Street Railways 7% 43% 23% 22% 5% 
 
 Laundries 32% 23% 34% 11% 
 
 Wholesale Mercantile 23% 30% 15% 7% 25% 
 
 Railroad Shops, Round 
 
 Houses, Car Repairers. 20% 55% 11% 7% 7% 
 
 74 
 
FEMALE EMPLOYES (of state) 
 
 Less $5.00- $6.00- $7.00- $8.00- $9.00 
 
 than $5.00 $6.00 $7.00 $8.00 $9.00 & over 
 
 Printing 5% 3% 6% 6% 6% 74% 
 
 Bag Mfg 8% 26% 18% 8% 40% 
 
 Garment Mfg 10% 5% 21% 20% 19% 25% 
 
 Paper Boxes 13% 7% 15% 12% 7% 46% 
 
 Department Stores 15% 2% 11% 6% 5% 61% 
 
 Cigar Making 8% 8% 6% 3% 2% 73% 
 
 Knitting Mills 1% 3% 1% 95% 
 
 Laundries 9% 4% 27% 20% 6% 34% 
 
 In addition to the industry averages which we have been pre- 
 senting and the trade union rates of wages that we shall call at- 
 tention to in a moment, it is worth while to note the earnings in 
 certain well denned occupations which illustrate typically the pre- 
 vailing incomes of wage earners. Teamsters are ordinarily paid 
 from $12.00 to $15.00 a week in Minneapolis, though about a fourth 
 of the entire number reported earned higher wages, generally 
 $3.00 a day. Harness makers make from $2.50 to $3.50 a day, 
 with about $3.00 a day $18.00 a week as the normal wage. Up- 
 holsterers are about equally divided between $15.00 to $18.00 a week 
 and the $18.00 to $20.00 groups. Bakers in most cases receive 
 close to $3.00 a day a few earning more, and about a fifth of them 
 less. The wages of salesmen commonly range from $2.00 to $3.50 
 a day, though exceptional men sometimes earn a higher wage, and 
 promotion to positions of management is an ever-present possibil- 
 ity. The prevailing rates for office clerks, i. e. bookkeepers, 
 cashiers, etc., are from $12.00 to $15.00 a week, though a consider- 
 able number earn more than $15.00 a week who have displayed 
 especial abilities. 
 
 The wages of common laborers range from $9.00 a week to 
 $15.00, with the great majority earning from $10.50 to $15.00. 
 
 About a third of the girls and women employed as seamstresses 
 earns from $6.00 to $7.00 a week; 60 per cent, from $9.00 to $10.00; 
 and 7 per cent, over $10.00. Stenographers commonly receive from 
 $9.00 to $15.00 a week, after they have had experience; though a 
 few work for less than $9.00, and some with exceptional ability 
 earn from $75.00 to $125.00 a month. 
 
 Telephone operators were distributed among the wage groups 
 as follows: 22 per cent below $5.00; 30 per cent from $5.00 to 
 $6.00; 20 per cent from $6.00 to $7.00; 11 per cent from $7.00 to 
 $8.00; 10 per cent from $8.00 to $9.00; and 7 per cent, $9.00 and 
 over. The wages of dressmakers are generally between $1.50 and 
 $2.50 a day when working either for private customers or for de- 
 partment stores, garment factories and other employers. 
 
 Union wages in Minneapolis in 1912 are given in Appendix II. 
 They average $3.95 a day an increase of 70 cents over the $3.25 
 average prevalent in 1908 and of $1.00 over the $2.95 average in 
 1902. This represents an increase of 34 per cent during the last 
 decade or, in effect, since the recovery of business after the de- 
 
 75 
 
pression of the nineties. Very few wage increases were obtained 
 between 1898 and 1902, and of course none during the depression. 
 
 The rise of food prices during the fifteen years in question 
 has been 65 per cent, of rent in Minneapolis about 30 per cent, of 
 general wages between 20 per cent and 25 per cent, of union wages 
 in Minnesota 31 per cent, and of union wages in Minneapolis 34 
 per cent. A part of the wide divergence between the rise of com- 
 modity prices and the rise of wages is due to the facts that prices 
 always rise before and more rapidly than wages; that 23 per cent 
 of the price increases has occurred in the last two years and wages 
 have not had time to advance materially in response to the price 
 movement ; and to the rapidity of the increase in commodity prices. 
 
 The investigation of family incomes and expenditures conducted 
 by the state labor bureau in 1910 showed that the average number 
 of rooms occupied by working men's families in Minneapolis had 
 decreased from 5.94 rooms to 4.77 rooms between 1890 and 1910; 
 that the average rent per family had increased but slightly ; and 
 that the average rent per room had increased 28 per cent. In other 
 words, the working people of Minneapolis have met the rise in 
 rents and prices of the last twenty years by lowering their standard 
 of housing at least with respect to the amount of room used. 
 With food, clothing, and miscellaneous expenses rising steadily, 
 and more rapidly than wages, it is not strange that rent has been 
 kept down as low as possible. Rent is an elastic cost and a family 
 can live in fewer rooms more easily than it can reduce its loaves 
 ot bread or its amount of clothes. 
 
 Rent and food constitutes three-fourths of the average working- 
 man's expenditures, and it is only the highest priced workmen or 
 those with abnormally small families that can keep these two 
 items from consuming 60 per cent of their earnings. The pressure 
 of current living costs upon workingmen's incomes was clearly 
 shown by the labor bureau's 1910 investigation, but must be much 
 more intense since the 23 per cent rise of prices of the last two 
 years. A family of five has a hard time to make ends meet on 
 earnings of $15.00 a week when work is steady and no abnormal 
 expenses, such as those for sickness or accident, are incurred. The 
 least that can be expected if the present pressure of workingmen's 
 expenditure on their incomes continues is a diminution of the birth 
 rate among the best classes of wage earners. Either that, or a 
 marked rise of wages, or a fall in the standard of living, must take 
 place, with respect to a majority of the wage earners. In fact, 
 all of these results are being worked out in the cases of various 
 families and groups. Observers have already begun to notice the 
 falling off of the birth rate among the skilled mechanics and higher 
 grades of laborers ; the fall in housing standards is only indicative 
 of decreases in food and clothing standards that can be observed 
 in many families; and wage increases are taking place in various 
 trades and occupations. The switch man's wife testifying before 
 the arbitration board expressed the experience of many families 
 when she said, "If I fed the children what they ought to have 
 to eat there would not be enough to go around. We can afford 
 
 ' 76 
 
meat only once a week, we use imitation butter, and we do not eat 
 eggs." And also the other one who said, " I used to allow $30.00 
 a month for the table for a family of three. It costs $45.00 now, 
 and we don't live so well." 
 
 The facts ascertained in Minneapolis with respect to rents 
 brought out very clearly the difficulty that normal sized families 
 encounter in making ends meet on an income of from $12.00 to 
 $15.00 a week. As families with this income, which we have shown 
 is the income secured by close to three-fourths of the wage earners 
 of Minneapolis, and more than the income of thousands, increase 
 in size it was found that their rent expenditures decreased rather 
 than increased. This, of course, is just the reverse of the normal 
 situation. As the family increases in size, from three persons to 
 more than three, it should be moving into larger rather than smaller 
 quarters, and spending more rather than less money for rent. When 
 the increase in food costs incident to an increase in the size of 
 the family forces poorer housing upon the family, it means that 
 the minimum amount had previously been set aside for medicine, 
 clothes, recreation, etc., under the first condition, and that the only 
 place from which the amount needed for more food could be secured 
 was the elastic element, rent. 
 
 That this is an anomaly is shown by an examination of the 
 more highly paid groups studied in the same investigation. In 
 these cases rents, as well a food costs, increased with the growth 
 of the family, and the amount set aside for clothing, recreation, etc., 
 was the one reduced. 
 
 The inevitable conclusion from these facts seems to be that at 
 the present time an income of $15.00 a week is barely sufficient for 
 a normal sized family's need when employment is reasonably 
 steady, and no unusual adversity comes. And the conclusion equal- 
 ly inevitable that the vast majority of Minnesota's (and Minne- 
 apolis') wage earners are earning barely enough for subsistence. 
 
 (1) Training and counsel that will lead to a more efficient use and 
 sale of his labor power by the wage earner is a crying need of our 
 times. The diversion of labor from the poorest paid employments 
 and its training along lines of higher efficiency will help the wage 
 earners to reach a permanently higher wage level. Even more can 
 be accomplished by a healthy public sentiment demanding that the 
 wage earner shall profit at least as much as his employer by the 
 rise of prices. 
 
 (1) This point may occur to someone. "If they are earning barely enough 
 for subsistence how they can afford picture shows, lodges, and other pleasures 
 or associations that cost money?" The answer is simple. Recreation is a crav- 
 ing that will be satisfied even if real necessities are thereby sacrificed. Nothing 
 in this field of economics has been more substantially proved in recent years than 
 the prevalence of insufficient food and insufficient clothes among the working 
 classes. Many of these legitimate pleasures and activities are obtained by a sac- 
 rifice of things which, at least physically, seem to us more necessary. No one 
 wants to merely toil all his life, and those persons who criticize the wage earners 
 at this point overlook some of the fundamentals of human nature. 
 
 77 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 SCHEDULE OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR FOR 
 UNIONS OF MINNEAPOLIS. 
 
 1912. 
 
 79 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 SCHEDULE OE WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR 
 FOR UNIONS OF MINNEAPOLIS. 
 
 1912. 
 
 UNION SCHEDULE OF 
 
 Local Union Ho 
 
 urs 
 
 Wages 
 
 Daily 
 
 Weekly 
 
 Male Female 
 
 Bakery and Confectionery Workers' 
 
 
 
 Union 9 
 
 54 
 
 $2.70 
 
 Barbers' Union 11 
 
 71 
 
 2.33 
 
 Bill Posters' and Billers' Alliance 10 
 
 52 
 
 2.50-4.00 
 
 Blacksmiths and Helpers', Brother- 
 
 
 
 hood of 9 
 
 54 
 
 1.98-3.15 
 
 Bookbinders, Brotherhood of 9 
 
 49 
 
 3.24 
 
 Brewers' and Malsters' Union 8 
 
 48 
 
 3.25 
 
 Beer Drivers' Union 10 
 
 60 
 
 2.50-3.08 
 
 Beer Bottlers' Union 8 
 
 48 
 
 2.67 
 
 Bricklayers' and Masons' Union No. 
 
 
 
 2 (Bricklayers) 8 
 
 48 
 
 5.20 
 
 Bricklayers' and Masons' Union No. 
 
 
 
 5 (Stonemasons 1 ) 8 
 
 48 
 
 4.40 
 
 Bridge and Structural Iron Work- 
 
 
 
 ers' Ass'n 8 
 
 48 
 
 4.50 
 
 Broom and Whisk Makers' Union 9 
 
 54 
 
 2.50 
 
 Carmen, Brotherhood of Railway, 
 
 
 
 No. 112 10 
 
 60 
 
 2.25 
 
 Carmen, Brotherhood of' Railway, 
 
 
 
 No. 520 10 
 
 60 
 
 2.45 
 
 Cabinet Makers' Union _ 9 
 
 54 
 
 3.00 
 
 Carpenters' and Jointers' Union 8 
 
 48 
 
 4.00 
 
 Parquet Floor Layers' Union 8 
 
 48 
 
 4.00 
 
 Cigar Makers' Union 8 
 
 48 
 
 2.25 2.25 
 
 Clerks' Ass'n Retail 9% 
 
 57 
 
 2.50 1.16 
 
 Conductors, Order of Railway 10 
 
 70 
 
 4.50-5.50 
 
 Coopers' Union No. 26 10 
 
 64 
 
 2.20 
 
 Coopers' Union No. 62 8 
 
 48 
 
 3.00-3.20 
 
 Coopers' Union No. 75 Machine 
 
 
 
 Operators , _ 1 
 
 60 
 
 3.00 
 
 Electrical Workers' Union No. 24 
 
 
 
 (Linemen) . .. 9 
 
 54 
 
 3.08 
 
 Electrical Workers' Union No. 292 
 
 
 
 (Inside Wiremen) 8 
 
 48 
 
 4.00 
 
 Electrical Workers' Union No. 541 
 
 
 
 (Fixture assemblers and hangers) 8 
 
 48 
 
 3.50 
 
 Stereotypers' and Electrotypers' 
 
 
 
 Union No. 97 (Electrotypers) 9 
 
 54 
 
 3.00 
 
 Stereotypers' and Electrotypers' 
 Union No. 16 (Stereotypers) 8 
 
 48 
 
 3.25 
 
 Elevator Constructors' Union 8 
 
 48 
 
 2.40-4.00 
 
 Remarks 
 
 Day and piece 
 work 
 
 Blacksmith 
 
 $3.15 
 Helpers $1.98 
 
 Regular drivers 
 
 3.08 
 
 Helpers $2.50 
 Barn Men $2.66 
 
 Piece work 
 Average earn- 
 ing 
 
 Average wages. 
 
 Passenger $5.50 
 
 Freight $4.50 
 
 Piece work 
 
 Average earn- 
 ings 
 
 Machinists $4.00 
 Helpers $2.40 
 
 81 
 
Local Union 
 
 Hours 
 Daily Weekly 
 
 Engineers' Union (Stationary) 8 48 
 
 Engineers' Union (Hoisting) 9 54 
 
 Engineers, Brotherhood of Locomo- 
 tive No. 357 10 70 
 
 Engineers, Brotherhood of Locomo- 
 tive No. 494 - 10 70 
 
 Engineers, Brotherhood of Locomo- 
 tive No. 625 10 70 
 
 Firemen and Engineers Brotherhood 
 
 of Locomotive, No. 82 ~. ~ 10 70 
 
 Firemen and Engineers Brotherhood 
 
 of Locomotive, No. 510 10 70 
 
 Firemen's Union Stationary 8 56 
 
 Freight Handlers' Union, No. 89 ....- 10 60 
 
 Freight Handlers' Union, No. 142 10 60 
 
 Freight Handlers' Union, No. 172 ... 10 60 
 
 Garment Workers' Union 9 54 
 
 Glass Workers' Union (Cut Glass) 9% 55 
 
 Granite Cutters' Ass'n 8 
 
 Hod Carriers' and Building Labor- 
 ers' Union 8 
 
 Hotel and Restaurant Employes' Al- 
 liance and Bartenders' League: 
 
 Bartenders' Union . 9 
 
 Cooks' Union - 10-18 
 
 Waiters' & Waitresses' Union 10-12 
 
 Lathers' Union 8 
 
 Leather Workers on Horse Goods, 
 
 United Ass'n. of 9 
 
 Lithographers' Union ~ 8 
 
 Machinists' Ass'n. No. 91 (Con-- 
 tract shops) - 9-10 
 
 Machinists' Ass'n. No. 477 (Rail- 
 road shops) 9 
 
 Marble Workers' Ass'n 8 
 
 Mineral and Soda Water Bottlers' 
 
 Uni on - - 1 
 
 Molders' Union, Iron 9 
 
 Musicians' Union 6 
 
 54-60 
 
 50 
 
 48 
 
 60 
 54 
 42 
 
 Painters', Decorators' and Paper- 
 hangers' Union, No. 880 (Sign 
 writers) 8 48 
 
 Painters', Decorators' and Paper- 
 hangers' Union, No. 186 8 48 
 
 Pattern Makers' League 9-10 50-54 
 
 Photo Engravers' Union 8 48 
 
 Plasterers' Ass'n 8 44 
 
 Plumbers' and Gas Fitters' Union, 
 No. 15 ... 8 
 
 Sprinkler Fitters' and Helpers' 
 
 Unions, No. 417 8 
 
 Steam Fitters' Union, No. 539 8 
 
 Press Assistants' Union 8 
 
 Pressmen's Union 8 
 
 Sheet Metal Workers' Union 8 
 
 Stage Employes' Union, Theatrical, 
 
 No. 13 - 6 
 
 48 
 
 48 
 48 
 48 
 48 
 48 
 
 42 
 
 Wages 
 Male Female 
 
 3.00 
 4.50 
 
 4.25-5.40 
 
 4.25 
 
 4.00 
 
 2.50-3.65 
 
 Remaks 
 Average 
 
 Passenger $5.40 
 Freight $4.25 
 
 Wages vary ac- 
 cording to size 
 of engine. 
 
 Wages vary ac- 
 cording to size 
 of engine. 
 
 2.50 
 2.15 
 2.25 
 2.25 
 
 2.00-4.00 1.00-3.00 Piece work 
 Wages vary 
 
 2.50 Mostly piece 
 
 work 
 
 48 
 
 3.40 
 
 44 
 
 3.25 
 
 59 
 60-72 
 60-72 
 
 3.00 
 2.25 
 1.45 
 
 48 
 
 4.00 
 
 54 
 
 2.75 
 
 48 
 
 4.00 
 
 1.25 
 
 Average wages 
 
 3.15-3.50 
 
 3.70 
 2.50-5.00 
 
 2.25 
 
 3.30-3.75 
 5.00 
 
 4.00 
 
 3.60 
 4.00 
 4.50 
 5.60 
 
 4.50 
 
 2.50-4.00 
 4.50 
 2.25 
 3.25 
 4.00 
 
 3.15 
 
 5.00 
 
 Helpers $2.50 
 
 Average earn- 
 ings of regular 
 musician. 
 
 Helpers $2.50 
 
 2.25 
 
 82 
 
Local Union 
 
 Hours 
 
 Daily Weekly 
 
 Moving Picture Machine Operators' 
 
 Union, No. 219 ............................................. 9 63 
 
 Stone Cutters' Union .................................... 8 48 
 
 Suspender Workers' Union ..................... 8 48 
 
 Switchmen's Union No. 7 .................. 10 60 
 
 Switchmen's Union No. 30 ..... - ................. 10 60 
 
 Tailors' Union ................................ _ ................. 9% 57 
 
 Team Owners' Union No. 21 ............ 8-9 48-54 
 
 Hack and Cab Drivers' Union, 
 
 No. 350 ...................................... ... 12 
 
 Wages 
 Male Female 
 
 3.30 
 4.50 
 2.00 
 3.20 
 3.50 
 2.25 
 
 Remarks 
 
 84 
 
 Ice Wagon Drivers 
 Union No. 221 .., 
 
 and Helpers' 
 
 Trainmen, Brotherhood of Railroad, 
 No. 102 ..................................... ____________________ 
 
 Trainmen, Brotherhood of Railroad, 
 No. 625 .............. ........................................... .... 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 Typographical Union, 
 Mailers' Union No. 
 Upholsterers' Union 
 
 No. 42 ............... 
 
 27 ........................ 
 
 10 70 
 
 8 48 
 
 8-10 48-60 
 
 9-10 54-59 
 
 1.50 Piece work 
 
 Average 
 4.50 Includes team 
 
 2.00 Average earn 
 
 ings. 
 
 2.50-3.07 Drivers $3.07 
 
 Helpers $2.50 
 
 2.50 Average 
 
 2.50 Average 
 
 3.89 3.89 Average 
 2.00 
 2.90-3.25 Railroad men 
 
 $2.90 
 
 Retail -men 
 $3.25 
 
 83 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 PROPOSED RECORD CARDS FOR USE IN 
 VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. 
 
 1. PERSONAL RECORD. 
 
 2. ATTENDANCE RECORD. 
 
 3. PHYSICAL RECORD. 
 
 85 
 
PERSONAL RECORD 
 
 Hune /^.M 
 
 DJe of birTI, 
 
 Place of UtK 
 
 
 "Father . u 
 
 National itu 
 
 
 
 [FatU FatKer 
 
 Otcu.palYoii 
 
 Wloflitr : a^a^ fr.OTn hon, Education .footker 
 
 Education parents expect t. q'lirc cl>ildU?ad, 
 
 " v 
 
 
 &s* 
 
 OfUr facts 
 
 .conceniiflo fio-me 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , Dales of vi 
 L 
 
 S<?S To hwe ]?/ a Je b H 
 
 
 
 2. 5. 
 
 3 
 
 ... . L 1 6. 
 
 ESTIMATE 
 
 TJlamcal Se^e 
 
 
 Reliat.l.tu 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TT* 
 
 ! Scientist " 
 
 
 
 I 
 Lanoaaoe 
 
 
 Rinctuo-litu 
 
 Aestketic 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Persia! \\^^\c\e^e^ Use f ""; drmKs 
 
 
 
 fecu-liarities "ftleTita! defects 
 
 Ckild's Plan For Career: 
 
 87 
 
PHYSICAL RiTCORP 
 
 TfliTineapoJn Public 
 Depfl-rtmeTTf of I 
 
 BirThpJo 
 
 fttWu HlitoTu 
 
 natianariTii at Fn.fl,>r 
 
 Iftotde 
 
 Tlv-mbtr ctMr cfi'ldran 
 
 Cancer 
 
 ttTotkeri Cod.tien 
 
 rt disease Specific disease 
 
 Persotial Histafij 
 
 Preyion.s i \\ne.<u Scarlet fevet 
 
 Tf7eou-;les 
 
 * 
 
 mps 
 
 Typhoid 
 
 IVKooi- 
 
 p^fti 
 
 uxaiq 
 
 natl 
 
 on 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gradf 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grade 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Da.te ct ei 
 
 raccmat,, 
 
 jua 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ufircou? disease 
 Heo-rf 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 E^tLdtd 
 
 ki lirnr 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Uittfi 
 
 9K.Ti di*ea9e 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TflMtalitij 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 JVffitienci, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Jknjiiiak 
 
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 Recc 
 
 88 
 
T?o. . 
 Of St 
 
 tid dite 
 
 C laSS and Alt. 
 
 Where AdmlTed 
 
 WKere Received 
 
 T77,t, n<a poi; Public CtUh 
 
 ATTENDANCE RECORD 
 
 wesfer 
 
 Grade 
 
 Cla 
 
 Oa^s 
 
 ScUol 
 
 School 
 
 ScUl 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lame. 
 
 TE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 )a1e of UTK 
 
 IT 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Address 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JL 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Date o| enrollment 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Place of enrollment 
 
 IT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 T. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Parent or guardian 
 
 IT 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Occu. potion 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Reasons for leafiito 
 
 jr 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /, 
 
 T. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3T 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a. 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TL 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TRRPGl/LARTTY OF ATTENDANCE 
 
 
 
 
 Other 
 
 IfleUod of treatment 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 89 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Advisory Commission 7, 64 
 
 Age of Children 56, 57 
 
 Analysis of Keport 6 
 
 Business and Industry 65, 66 
 
 Child-workers of Minneapolis 71 
 
 i Continuation Schools 63, 64 
 
 Cost of living 76-78 
 
 Department Stores 45 
 
 Distribution of Workers 3 
 
 Economic Status of Family _ _ 25, 26 
 
 ^Education after leaving 28, 29 
 
 Family Incomes 76 
 
 Food - 76 
 
 Grades of Children 15, 58 
 
 1 ' Had to Work" 27 
 
 Idleness 45, 65 
 
 Living Wage 77 
 
 Minneapolis' Wages 66 
 
 Nationality of Children 12 
 
 Number of Jobs 40-43, 65 
 
 Occupations 32-38 
 
 Office Work '.. 46 
 
 Parental Condition 24, 25 
 
 : -Personnel of the Commission 4 
 
 Reasons for leaving 19-23, 60, 61 
 
 Reason for Survey ~ 4 
 
 Recommendations 7, 8 
 
 Records advised 87-89 
 
 Eent _ 76 
 
 Responsibility for leaving 17, 18 
 
 Retardation 16, 59, 60 
 
 Sources of Material 9, 56 
 
 Standard of Living 71-78 
 
 Teachers' Club 5 
 
 Telephone Girls 47, 48 
 
 Trades _ 38, 39 
 
 Trade Schools 62, 63 
 
 Typical Records 48-54 
 
 Union wages and hours - 79-83 
 
 Unity House 5 
 
 Vocational Guidance ~ 7, 67, 68 
 
 Wages 43, 44 
 
 Wages in Minneapolis 71-73 
 
 Wages influenced by education _ 65 
 
 Wages of boys and girls compared ~ 66 
 
 Wages of females _ 74, 75 
 
 Wages of males ~ 73, 74 
 
 Wholesale Houses 47 
 
 Widow's Pensions 62 
 
 Work and Wages 30, 31 
 
 90 
 
UNIVERSITY OP CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 JAN 7.3 
 
 NOV 11 19 16 
 JUL241917 
 JUN 1 1918 
 
 JUS 13 1918 
 
 NOV * 
 
 FEB 14 
 MAP 27 1919 
 
 29 1919 
 JUL 21 1119 
 KB IB 1923 
 
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 311827 
 
 
 30m 6,'14 
 
1C. 05401 
 
 285680 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY